Ink of Vengeance
by Fate VII
Summary: Kurama's life as a human is turned upside down when murder decides to leave the battlefront and visit at home. Thus, Hiei and Botan are forced to go chasing after him in an effort to keep him from destroying what's left of his life. Demon snogs. [finished
1. The Smell Of Red

Fate: This is going to be...odd. Very odd. And a bit on the gory side for the first few chapters.

Fluffy: Mmm, gore.

Disclaimer: We don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, either. I mean, if we couldn't get our hands on Yu-Gi-Oh, then why Yu Yu Hakusho? It belongs to the great and wonderful Yoshihiro Togashi, who--

Max: --Who we are stalking in an attempt to scare him into giving it up in exchange for a bright pink alarm clock. Mwahaha.

Lori: And let the fic begin!

&

_Sometimes I wonder why I chose to be human,_ Kurama mused as he slammed through the door, caught up in the swell of migrating students as they fled the school. _Sometimes. Not always, but sometimes._ He smiled slightly, tucking his head down somewhat and moving with the flow out onto the sidewalk. _Most of these times I'm pretending to be a demon salmon of sorts, flowing upstream or downstream. I'm not meant to be a fish._

"Do you think _you_'_re_ really meant to be a fish?" he quizzically asked the boy next to him without thinking it through.

The boy blinked. "What? No...no, I'm not a fish...I'm not a fish..."

Kurama smiled. "You're not?"

The boy gaped, further proving Kurama's point. Kurama smiled even more widely and slithered through the crowd deftly, leaving the perplexed boy behind him.

_And then I realize that I rather like looking and acting more or less human, despite all this crowded metropolis business._ He rolled his eyes as he crossed the street, the other humans swarming around him. _Mostly. _

As he began meandering through the park on his way home, his eyes widened somewhat. _Hmm. Blood? Meh. Silly humans getting themselves killed. Just like demons in that vein, I think._ His eyes wandered up to the trees in the park, having brought the thought of demons to his mind. _And I don't think Hiei wants to talk to me right now. _He ruefully fingered a small scar hidden by his hair, just over his right temple. _He does get so violent when he's woken up rudely._

As his face settled back into blankness, a small moue of distaste and hunger crossed his eyes before vanishing into emptiness. _That smell of blood...it's only getting stronger._

He paused and slid behind one of the trees, inhaling slowly and letting the sweet, tangy smell wash through his lungs. _So familiar...so very familiar...like broken glass..._

_Glass?_

_Che. I'm just confused. _

_...right?_

Kurama glanced back at the somnolent black figure in the trees, then shook his head, dragging a smile to his face once more. _Well, he's still asleep, so it can't be that bad. Can it?_

He decided to leave that question unanswered, and continued on his way home. 

As he reached the end of his street, the dark heady smell of dead flesh and blood smacked him full in the face as the wind shifted.

Kurama's eyes widened, this time in horror, as the smell snaked down the back of his throat, coating his mouth and the inside of his nose with the essence of gore. 

_Oh no oh no oh no oh no no no no..._

He flung his briefcase to the side and fled away down the street, pounding towards the familiar stoop he could vaguely see in the distance.

_No no no no no..._

Flying down the familiar street he traversed nearly every day, shoes skidding across rough pavement and hair falling out of its loose tie.

_I don't believe it..._

Up the stairs, nearly slipping in his haste, and flinging the door open, letting it slam shut in his wake.

_I can't believe it..._

But scent doesn't lie.

_Mummy...?_

Dead on the kitchen floor, the flourishing potted plants on the windowsill a cruel mockery of the bloody scene.

_I'm laughing._

Hands plunged into the slowly clotting blood, hair hanging down to the floor, feet having slid out from under him in the widening red pool, cold sweat dripping down his face and off his eyelashes into the mess before him.

_I'm laughing._

*

_...the hell just woke me up?_

Hiei blinked, the tree around him coming into focus quickly. 

The ambient sound also came into focus.

_YOW!_

Hiei winced slightly, eyes narrowing as he stood and continued out onto the most convenient branch pointing in the direction of the noise.

_That...is definitely screaming. _Hiei's eyes narrowed even more. _What the fuck?_

He scowled out into the open air, allowing the sound to wash over him. It certainly wasn't a human screeching like that. No human could have managed to keep up such a noise for so long without stopping to breathe. Even by demonic standards, it seemed a hell of a feat. Certainly an investigation-worthy feat, if only to kick the arse of the person making the noise from here to Calcutta. So Hiei promptly kicked up the speed to about 0.05 kilometers per hour faster than "what the FUCK was THAT?!" and blazed off in pursuit. Not like the screaming person was going anywhere or anything.

_Blood,_ Hiei thought as he closed the short distance and turned onto the street where he thought his goal might be. The screaming had at last stopped, leaving the street utterly devoid of life, owing to normal businesspeople being away. Hiei really didn't want to be this close when it started up again. 

He skidded to a halt by where the smell was strongest, then stared unabashedly at the house boasting the scent.

_What...the...?_

_Kurama?_

Hiei decided to, this time, not be so hasty in trying to figure out what was going on, and to actually arm himself before plunging into what could be mortal danger. He popped his katana out of the sheath and ascended the stairs in a blur of black, banging through the door and vanishing into the hallway. Blood patterned the floor in footprints and splashed droplets. 

Hiei sniffed again. _Human blood. Pure human. Definitely not Kurama's. What the hell is going on here?_

He followed the blood trail through the door and on into where he remembered the kitchen being from when he'd wandered off around Kurama's house out of curiosity.

A demon is generally quite used to scenes of carnage. Hiei was no exception, especially since he'd led rather an exceptionally violent life, even for a demon. Still, complete and utter mutilation of a human being he knew rather well was uncommon enough for him to at least pause briefly.

What kept him rooted to the ground past that brief moment was the fact that Kurama was huddled on the floor in the middle of the largest puddle of blood. Blood streaked him in wild angry swathes, painting a gruesome mask across his face and outlining his glazed eyes. His school uniform was mostly intact but soaked with blood as well. Faint streaks of white marred his red hair, which was falling haphazardly out of its normal tie. 

"Kurama," Hiei began, his voice echoing off of the porcelain in the room. 

Kurama's head snapped up. His eyes fixed on Hiei's, still looking as though they'd been painted over with a fine coat of silver. His next response was to draw his lips back over his teeth and hiss in a purely animal fashion. 

_Shit,_ Hiei thought. "So much for the kind and gentle version of Kurama," he said aloud, trying to provoke a response. 

"I did not kill her!" Kurama snarled, his normal voice slightly distorted. "But I might as well have done so!"

Hiei raised one eyebrow. Conversing with a deranged and possibly homicidal youko in the most sarcastic form possible may not have been the best idea, but Hiei was singularly uncreative in his communication. "Interesting. Do tell."

A snarl was all the warning Hiei got before Kurama went straight for his throat.

_Shit!_ Hiei thought, ricocheting off of the walls in an effort to regain control of the situation. However, he was most certainly in an enclosed area, and if Kurama went for any of his long-range attacks he didn't have much choice except to go in executioner-style. Which was probably a bad idea, all things considered. First and foremost, he'd be stuck alone in the Ningenkai. With the two annoying humans. And no other demon with which to complain. Second, he didn't much favor the idea of getting in trouble for killing one of the prized members of the Urameshi team. Third, Kurama could always tear him apart before he even came close enough for a clean shot. Usually Hiei was faster, but this was most emphatically _not_ a usual situation.

_And now I'm in a most likely to-the-death battle with one of the few people I fear,_ Hiei thought grimly. _Fuck._

So tensed was he for Kurama to bring out his rose whip that he didn't really understand what was going on when he saw both hands empty but moving at him anyway.

It was only when something sticky hit his face and his eyes started burning that he realized that yet again Kurama had used blood to blind him.

*

Botan impatiently drummed her fingers on her oar as she floated through the city streets. _I don't want to do this job...I really don't want to do this job...but I am the guardian and I'll do it._

_Even if I don't like it._

_Even if..._

_Damn. Kurama's going to be near-useless with the death of his human form's mother, I can see it coming. I just hope that nothing bad happens soon...or that this isn't a permanent thing._

She sighed and pushed a stray tendril of hair behind her ear. It was almost immediately ruffled loose by the wind of her flight as she turned a corner and ghosted along the street.

She halted outside the house and then stared in consternation. The soul of the recently deceased was flying in crazy circles around and around its former dwelling. Botan kicked off after it in brief pursuit to see if it could be at all calmed down, then quickly ascertained that it was impossibly. They most certainly did not want to rest in peace, or even rest at all yet.

_This worries me,_ Botan thought. _If Shiori won't rest in peace, then there's something she left behind. Something like a violent death, or a..._

_Or a child in trouble?_

_Kurama?_

_Oh bugger._

Botan immediately landed and hefted her oar experimentally. _Not the best weapon in the world, but it'll do._ She narrowed her eyes and marched up to the door, oar in hand. 

About to enter, she paused and stared at the space between the door and the jamb. _Wait...why is the door _open?_ I don't understand..._

She tentatively pushed the door open with her oar, waited for any ravenous plants that might be booby-trapping the area to show themselves, and when none were forthcoming stepped into the foyer. 

It was right about then that she heard a splashing noise, a stifled yelp, and a near-rabid snarl that scaled up into a shriek. 

_Child in trouble, check,_ Botan thought as she dashed through the door. _Yeeowch!_ Her feet slid out from under her and she sat down hard on the floor. Then her eyes widened and she inhaled sharply, leaping back to her feet and clinging to her oar for support. "'Who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?'" she all but whimpered, feeling her kimono stick to her legs with blood. It had originated in one pool under what was left of Shiori, but had been flung across the room by--

_Fuck,_ she thought succinctly as she realized that a very nearly insane Kurama was staring at her with absolutely no recognition but a lot of bloodlust in his eyes. 

"Fucking fox!"

Botan paused in her defensive raising of her oar. _I didn't say that...Kurama didn't say that...who said – oh._ She slanted her eyes slightly to the left to see Hiei with blood splashed across his face, namely over his eyes and the bandanna hiding the Jagan eye. The fire demon had been effectively blinded and was very obviously furious. 

"You just keep walking into that, don't you?" she found herself muttering.

Hiei's response was to swear at length while blinking rapidly, his eyes moving almost nonstop in a futile effort to see. He was practically shaking from the strain of all his muscles being tensed at once, waiting for some kind of sign that Kurama was attacking him. It was as close to panic as Botan had ever seen him, and also close to the angriest.

"Kurama," she said, trying to keep her voice level. "Kurama, you have to calm down."

Kurama hissed again, exposing a set of rather sharp teeth. 

"Eeep," Botan said involuntarily.

"Stop whining," Hiei snapped, rubbing furiously at his eyes with his free hand. "The fox has obviously lost it for once and for all. Comes of staying too close to humans. Stupid little mortals."

"Uh-oh," Botan said softly as Kurama leapt straight at Hiei. She then threw her oar forwards and blocked the enraged fox demon, preventing Kurama from disemboweling Hiei. Hiei promptly started lashing out with his katana, trying to hit Kurama before he got killed. 

"Oi, oi, stop that!" Botan yelled. She swung the oar one way, knocking Kurama back, then swung it again at Hiei. She then backed up, her eyes wide, and slipped again in the blood on the floor.

The oar clattered to the ground as she knocked the back of her head on the ground. She slowly sat up, rubbing her head and blinking, then shuddering at the feel of blood in her hair. "Ew," she whimpered, then hoisted herself back to her feet with the aid of her oar. "Kurama! Hiei!" she yelled, waving the oar around. "Stop that! Damn demons," she muttered under her breath. "Always so unbalanced."

"The fox _blinded_ me!" Hiei snarled.

"How is that a reason for you to kill him?" Botan demanded.

"This is the _second_ time he's done that!" Hiei complained.

"Why don't you stop your arguing and get out fast before I do something I'll hate myself for later?" Kurama suggested, the slightly distorted edge of his voice still there when he spoke quietly. 

Botan looked over at Hiei. "Go wash your eyes out. Now."

"I'm not running away," Hiei snapped. 

"No, you're running _back,_" Botan replied. "Go!"

Hiei sulked back against the sink and poked at the faucet. Water gushed out, splattering all three of them and adding to the slipperiness of the floor. Kurama hissed again, this time in annoyance. 

_This is not good,_ Botan thought emphatically. _This is really, really horrible. What am I going to do? If I went to Koenma now, they'd kill each other before I got back. _She looked over at Hiei awkwardly getting water all over himself, then at Kurama hanging onto the kitchen table, staring at him and breathing raggedly.

"This is not good," she whispered. "This is very, very bad."

%

Fluffy: Right-oh. Psycho Kurama. Half-blind Hiei. Very nervous Botan. Whee! I'm going to have fun with this!

Duel: There are no reviews yet. You want to change that. You know you do. You know deep in your heart that you want to change this fact. And the Sharp Pointy Review Stick of Doom wants you to change this fact too. *waves the Stick threateningly*


	2. The Taste Of Fear

Hiei was frantically rubbing at his eyes, blinking madly all  the while. He could see dim, hazy outlines of the two other people in the room, but that wasn't enough to satisfy him. However, he figured that it would have to do. Besides, Kurama's ki was completely unmasked and wildly out of 

control-- 

"Fucking fox!" he spat again. "Hurry up and mask your ki, 

you idiot!" 

"You're not helping!" Botan shrilled at him.  

"Yes, I am! Do you want every demon in the vicinity showing up for a fight? Let alone those pesky humans we have to work with," Hiei said irritably.  

"What are you talking about"" Botan demanded. 

"Can't you feel it? Demons twenty miles away must know there's someone itching for a battle in here!" Hiei snarled. He dragged his sleeve across his eyes again and glowered at the fuzzy, bloodstained figure that was not growling and giving off a near-burning fighting ki. "This is asking for trouble in the worst way." 

"You, wanting to avoid trouble"" Botan asked snidely. 

"It's not the demons that matter," Hiei said dismissively. "It's the humans." 

"It's always humans," Kurama said roughly. "Humans, humans, humans. This wasn't a demon's work, it was a human. Humans are the problem and humans must be destroyed. It was a demon's idea, and we couldn't condone it. Perhaps we just didn't understand. But I understand." Kurama smiled, his shaky grip on the table slackening. "I understand." 

Hiei barely had enough time to dodge to the left and snap his katana up as Kurama flicked his rose whip around without his customary pomp-and-circumstance creation.  

Hiei felt someone roughly grab hold of his upper arms from 

behind with sticky hands that reeked of blood. "We're getting out of this room," Botan's voice said in his ear. "Because I don't want to be sliced to death." 

Hiei angrily shook her off and took two steps towards Kurama. "Kitsune..." he began warningly.  

"Koorime..." Kurama mocked. "What is it you're saying, Forbidden Child? You don't want to hurt me?" 

Burning dark anger swept across Hiei's mind. "I want to hurt you," he said softly. "I crave to hurt you, kitsune." 

"You didn't do this," Kurama stated. 

Hiei smirked. "I said you, kitsune. You." 

Being partially blinded as he was, Hiei didn't have a chance to note the intrigued look that Botan cast first upon him, then on Kurama. 

Kurama was also too far gone into the land of the deranged to understand the speculative expression on Botan's face. He merely tightened his grip on the rose whip clenched in his right fist and shifted his weight uneasily.  

Botan began edging out of the door. Hiei's eyes flickered over to her briefly, then back to Kurama. _Let her run_, he thought_. It'll only make my job here easier_. 

Then his eyes widened as Botan froze. 

"Who is that?" he asked levelly of the hammering on the door.  

"I don't know," Botan replied just as calmly. 

"Well then, why don't you go find out?" Hiei sniped. 

Botan glared at him and began edging out the door once more. 

Five seconds later, she screamed. 

* 

Botan clapped her hands over her mouth, splattering blood onto her face_. Oh, kami-sama, no! Why'd they have to come?_

Suddenly Hiei's mocking words about Kurama's ki came back into focus. They _felt it...and came here..._

Taking a deep breath, she snatched up her oar and slammed it across the doorway. "No sightseers allowed!" she said officiously. "Go away!" 

Keiko's hands went to her mouth in an unconscious imitation of Botan's. "Botan-san, what happened to you...?" 

"What happened to Kurama and Hiei?" Yusuke amended.  

"I said, no sightseers allowed!" Botan repeated coldly.  

"We're not sightseers, we're friends," Yusuke said. "Look, it's just us two. Kuwabara's not here yet. No need to keep us out on account of being insensitive." 

"It's not that!" Botan protested. "You can't take Keiko-chan in there! And...and...Kurama's not taking visitors!" 

Yusuke looked intently at Botan, then tried to look around her into the hallway. Botan leaned with him, blocking his move with her body. "What aren't you letting me see?" Yusuke demanded. 

"Look, get Keiko-chan out of here," Botan pleaded. "There's too much blood for any human to be around." 

"Tell me what happened," Yusuke said stubbornly. "What's so bad that you scream when you see us?" 

"Uh...I...um, well, it's a long story, and you'll have to get Kurama to tell it to you sometime..." Botan started off, trying to do what she did best: waffle. 

"Botan-san!" Keiko said, using the tone that usually worked, whether it was on Yusuke, Kuwabara, Botan, or Hiei.  

Botan stopped. "Yusuke, Keiko, his mother's dead," she whispered. "Why else would I be here?" 

"W-was it an accident? Why-why're you so bloody?" Keiko stammered. 

"She was killed," Botan said simply. "Killed by a human. Kurama won't want to see you, or anyone of your species. You all...well, you do smell alike to demons, and Kurama's not quite thinking logically right now. I don't know for how long Hiei can keep track of him, since he can't really see at all, so I've got to get back in there. You know what you can do for me? Try and reach Koenma-sama! I don't know what I'm going to be able to do..." 

"Wait, wait, what?" Yusuke asked quickly. 

Botan swallowed, took a deep breath, then went back a few steps. "Hiei got here before I did. I found him in the kitchen with Kurama and...and his mother." She swallowed again, this time convulsively. "It was very brutal, and Kurama...he threw blood into Hiei's face, and Hiei won't stop trying to take shots at Kurama in order to clean it off properly." Botan took another deep breath. "I have my hands full trying to keep them from killing each other or anyone else. Hiei swears he can take Kurama, but right now I doubt that very much," Botan said truthfully.  

Yusuke nodded. "We'll wait out here until we can call the cops." 

"And try and get to Koenma-sama," Botan added. "I don't care how. Please…" 

"He probably already knows," Yusuke said disgustedly. "And we'll--oh, no," he added, whipping around. 

"Urameshi!" Kuwabara bellowed. "What's going on?" 

Botan heard a low growl from the kitchen. 

"Keiko-chan, go!" she said, dropping the oar and giving the girl a shove with her bloody hands. 

"Call the cops," Yusuke said. "Quick, go!" 

Keiko wavered, then nodded and raced away down the road. 

Botan snatched up the oar, then whirled and slammed it into Kurama, knocking him out of the air as he jumped at Yusuke, Botan, and the newly-arrived Kuwabara blindly. She flipped the oar over and planted the handle in his solar plexus firmly. "Hiei, you bastard!" she screamed, her voice shaking with panic. "Get your worthless ass out here!" 

No response. 

Kurama snarled wordlessly and tried to squirm out from under the oar, reaching for Kuwabara. The taller redhead was staring with horror into the kitchen. Yusuke had halted behind him, staring unabashedly at the same point. 

"Hiei!" Botan yelled as one of Kurama's flailing hands hit her ankle and sent her flying off him. She skidded into the kitchen and fetched up against something that felt a lot like a body. She whimpered and scrambled away, looking behind her_. Was that Shiori? _She prayed it hadn't been.  

Then, as her eyes fell on the obstacle in her former trajectory, she found herself very much wishing that it 

actually _had_ been.  "Hiei!" she yelled ineffectually. Kurama had obviously taken advantage of the fact that there wasn't much Hiei could do on a long-range scale with a sword and taken him out neatly and 

quietly. She took a deep breath, then turned her head and called out into the hallway, "Try and hold him down out there!" 

"Easy for you to say!" Yusuke squawked.  

Botan poked the fire demon with the oar. "Hiei! Get your sorry ass up here! I can't believe you! All this bragging about how you can take on a pissed-off youko, and here you are, out cold on the floor. What happened to the great and powerful fire demon that we all know and fear? At this rate, even Kuwabara could take you on and win!" 

No response.  

Botan sighed, snatched up the oar, and dashed back out into the hallway. 

Kuwabara was sprawled in a corner, rattling off questions wildly as Kurama sparred with Yusuke. 'Sparred with' was a deceptive phrase, however, as the fight mainly consisted of Yusuke dodging every move Kurama made.  

Botan tightened her grip on her oar and, pivoting on one foot, slammed Kurama across the back of the head hard and fast. Kurama crumpled to the floor. 

Botan propped herself up on her oar, panting somewhat. 

Yusuke looked up at her. "Nice timing. Look, the police are going to get here any minute." 

"We have two unconscious demons in this house," Botan said thoughtfully. "Why don't you go have Kuwabara fetch Keiko-chan? They can stay and wait for the police?" she suggested. 

"This is your field," Yusuke said, backing up with his hands held before him. "I'm alive now!" 

Botan's shoulders sagged briefly. "You know the rules as well as I do, though. I can't even catch her spirit, it's so wired right now. My best bet is to get things fixed up here." 

Yusuke nodded. "Should we...where should we put Kurama?" 

"In the kitchen," Botan decided. "We don't want to get it any messier anywhere else." 

"We're messing up a crime scene," Yusuke said brightly. 

"This isn't a TV show," Botan warned him as she helped Yusuke and Kuwabara with the unconscious redhead. They manhandled him to under a window, then put him down with no small amount of relief and backed away prudently as he stirred lightly.  

"Good show," Hiei said from behind them, sounding amused. 

"Oh, _now_ you wake up!" Botan said, hoping to drive the embarrassment home out of sheer spite. 

Hiei glared at her. Or, well, glared at a space somewhat to the right of her. "Females. Always so catty," he said huffily, turning his back. Botan's glare only intensified. 

"Oh, mask your fucking ki too," Hiei snapped, striding over to the sink and clumsily feeling for the knob. Botan felt a pang of pity as she looked at the demon. The blood streaking down from the back of his head showed that he'd been blindsided by Kurama's Rose Whip, literally. Then she stomped on the mischievous imp that dared pity the impudent bugger with a ferocious mental effort.  

As Hiei resumed his inelegant efforts to restore his sight, Botan turned back to Yusuke and Kuwabara. "Now what?" she demanded. 

"Kuwabara is going to go away and get Keiko. Isn't that right?" Yusuke said darkly. 

Kuwabara nodded. "Poor Keiko-chan must be feeling so bad over this," he said importantly and strode off. 

Botan raised an eyebrow. "So tell me, is Yukina the only thing keeping you from strangling him on days like this?" 

"Just about," Yusuke admitted.  

"Hn," Hiei contributed as he ran water over his eyes.  

Yusuke looked at the floor, then hastily averted his eyes. "Do we have to be in here?" 

Botan and Hiei exchanged glances as well as they could, then both looked irritated that they had done such a comradely thing.  

"Yes, I know both of you are immune to this, but I'm not," Yusuke said irritably. "So…just stop rolling your eyes at each other and answer me. Do we have to be in here?" 

"I'm not done yet," Hiei said sulkily. 

"Go outside if it bothers you," Botan said.  

Yusuke looked with distaste at the blood smearing him. "Like this?" 

"Kuwabara and Keiko are both out there already," Botan pointed out. 

"Oh, right," Yusuke said. He started out the doorway, then froze and turned around. "The police are here. You two should...do something," he said desperately. 

Botan nodded. "You done?" 

Hiei shut off the water, rubbed at his eyes one last time, and said, "Hn." 

"Good," Botan said, moving around the table to the window. "Now we have to do something about--Kurama!" 

"Yeah, so?" Hiei said. 

"No, you misunderstand me," Botan said, her eyes fixed on the window, which was now open. "He's gone." 

Hiei dashed to the window and leaned out, tugging the bandanna off of his Jagan eye. He swung his feet over the sill without another word and prepared to jump down. 

"Where are you going?" Botan hissed, putting up a hand to halt him. 

"He's gone after the ningen who did this," Hiei said, a savage grin lighting up his face. 

"He can't!" Botan whispered. 

"Well, I'm going to witness this," Hiei said and blurred from sight. 

Botan jumped after him and kicked off from the ground, soaring up into the air. "Bastard!" she screamed, looking around wildly. "Don't you dare leave me like this! Get back here or I'll have you arrested!" 

Hiei zipped back into appearance. "Don't slow me down again," he said warningly. 

"I'll slow you down all I like," Botan said angrily. "Now show me which way he went!" 

Hiei grudgingly pointed. "Why are you so fucking concerned?" 

"If he kills that ningen, I'll have to arrest him, that's why," Botan snapped. "He'll probably be executed even if he repents. He's got too many black marks against him, and attacking his own team would come into factor. He's going to be lucky to not be imprisoned just for this!" 

Hiei's eyes went wide. "You blasted office-types and your senses of mortality should all just burn in your own little hell," he snarled. "He should be allowed this!" 

"I agree with you," Botan hissed. "It's _not my decision_, and _I'll_ get arrested if I don't carry out Koenma-sama's order. So I'm going to go stop Kurama, and then I'm going to go pick up Shiori, and after that I'm going to go talk to Koenma-sama about what's going to be done about this horrible ningen," Botan said angrily. "Because ningen justice isn't justice." 

Hiei looked at her with an odd kind of respect, which was nearly invalidated by the ten levels of impatience showing in his gaze as well. "Then get your ass in gear and follow that fucking kitsune before he does something really stupid," he said, the hostility in his voice as prominent as ever.  "You lead the way," Botan replied. "Hn." Hiei sped off, Botan following determinedly. Meanwhile, behind them, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Keiko gathered at the front doorstep with the police, all wondering quite how they were going to explain things. 

Good luck to them.


	3. The Sight Of Blood

Fate: Hello y'all. I don't feel like stringing this out, since it's already written. So…here you go. Chapter three. More blood, gore, and other fun stuff.

Disclaimer: This still does not belong to Fate. Fate, however, _does_ have a doubleshot espresso-in-a-can. This is your last warning. Run away! Run away!

&

Kurama skidded to a stop in the front of the alleyway, breath rattling irregularly. The sudden harsh sound made the man counting cash at the end of the alley look up in irritation and fear, automatically pushing his money into a pocket on his baggy, bloodstained pants.  

_I found you_, he thought. _I've__ found you at last. You and I are smeared with the same blood. You and I bathed together in my mother's lifeblood. We could be brothers, in that sense. And now...now you're going to die... _

A smile curled his lips, feral and alluring under bloodstained hair.  

"Hey!" the man snapped. "What the hell do you want?" 

Kurama's strangled breathing was suddenly broken by bursts of soft laughter. "I want...I want..." 

"Look, pretty-boy," the man started. "You're a little messy for my tastes." 

Kurama stumbled closer. "You're messy too," he breathed, staggering closer to the man. "But that's to be expected." 

The man's eyes narrowed, and one hand drifted out of sight to the small of his back. Kurama had no illusions about what was concealed there.  _The knife...the thing that killed her..._

"It's the same blood, you see," he said, halting just out of arm's reach. "The same woman who spread it over us. It's on you...and now it's on me." 

The man eyed him. "Hey, are you another one of ours? Look, that job was mine, and if you're here for a cut--" 

"I'm here for a cut all right," Kurama said, leaning forwards and trailing a finger down the man's face, starting by his eye and slowly letting it drift down. He abruptly sank in the nail on that finger and yanked, ripping a hole in the man's face.  

He dodged out of the way as the man swung a fist at him, missing completely. "You little bitch! What the hell was that?" he yelled, cupping a hand over his bleeding cheekbone.  

"I'm here for a cut," Kurama enunciated with a smile. He reached into his hair and pulled out a tattered, bloodstained rose, his hand clenching around the thorns angrily. Blood dripped onto the pavement at his feet. "Do you understand?" 

"Who are you?" the man demanded. "Look, pretty-boy, they make houses for people like you. Nice, padded little rooms with nice people to take care of you." 

Kurama snapped out his rose whip, lips pulled back in a wild grin as white hair drifted across the reddish matted mass. "Not where I'm from," he replied. "I don't want to sully her blood by getting yours on me too, so don't make me chase you and tear you apart myself." 

"Like hell," the man snarled, glancing around for an escape while flicking out the already-bloody knife.  

"You ripped her apart and left her to die. You didn't even make a mercy cut. She bled and bled until her sweet human blood ran across the floor and became a pool an inch deep. She bled and bled and bled and then died," Kurama breathed. "I would stop trying to escape. It'll just make it worse for you." 

"No!" 

* 

Hiei was lounging against the side of one of the buildings, arms crossed, watching Kurama half-seduce his prey with a blend of fascination, admiration, and a slight twinge of something else that he didn't bother to identify. The hysterical ferry girl was some distance behind him, giving 

him time to get a good look at the resurfacing demon melting into and through the human exterior that the brainless kitsune had adopted. 

"No!" Botan screeched, spinning around the corner on that ridiculous oar she rode. "No, Kurama, please! Stop and listen to me!" 

Hiei considered examining his nails as Kurama whirled partially, keeping one eye on the human and another on Botan. He was fairly sure that he was still unnoticed. "Why should I?" Kurama snarled. His voice was still the distorted almost-growl from earlier. "What'll the humans do to him?"

"I'm going to arrange something with Koenma-sama to get this human interrogated by our people," Botan squeaked. Her voice was really starting to grate on Hiei's nerves, what with the panic that she was obviously feeling. "He killed the mother of one of our kind. There are laws for this. Our laws. This is out of human jurisdiction. We'll get it resolved here fast and then we'll handle it ourselves." 

"So he's mine," Kurama breathed, the growl softening to a possessive purr. Dark lashes ghosted over murky, muted eyes. "Mine forever. Mine..." 

Hiei tensed as Kurama's voice trailed away. He had absolutely no idea why. It just seemed like a good idea, and following his instincts had kept him alive this far in life.  

"You can't kill him," Botan spoke slowly, as though to a small child. "You'll be arrested. I may get an order to arrest you soon because you attacked Yusuke and Kuwabara." 

Hiei glared at her. Botan glared back and waved the oar threateningly at Kurama. "Pneumatherapy and white magic aren't all I can do. I'm the shirigami. If you attack this man, I will be forced to take steps to stop you, and I can." Her voice lost the harsh edge. "Please don't do this, Kurama. It's not like you. Not anymore." 

"Of course it's like him," Hiei burst out. "Don't you know anything, woman? This is _Kurama_ we're talking about. Underworld's Most Wanted pretty little poster boy. It won't hurt anyone if he gets revenge," Hiei said dismissively. "No one cares about human scum." 

Botan snapped her fingers and pointed at Hiei, her eyes suddenly cold. Fire gouted up from the asphalt in front of him. "Fire to warn a fire demon," she snapped. "You may not encourage Kurama now. He will _not_ thank you later when he's _executed_," Botan hissed. "I'd thought you were one of the few demons left who _weren't_ out for his blood. Do you hate him that much, to have him killed without getting your own hands dirty? To make the ones who wanted you both dead at one point kill him for you? Go over and slit his throat if you want him to die. If you want him to live, then you will help me with him," Botan finished angrily. "And you're no better," she added, whirling to face Kurama. "Now stop harassing that human right this instant!" she said, knocking Kurama down with a quick swipe of her oar and sitting on his back once he 

hit the ground. His rose whip tumbled out of his grasp and dissolved.  

Hiei was feeling decidedly angered. His eyes lit on the human at the other end of the alley, who was edging towards Botan and Kurama, holding the knife ready. 

Hiei popped his blade free of the sheath and sped over to stand in front of the human. 

The man looked down at Hiei with a sneer. "Go home, little boy," he said. "What'll you do with your toy sword, gut me?"

Hiei smirked, drawing the double-edged blade and passing it between them in a blur of silver. The metal began heating up as rage coursed through his veins and heated his touch. "If I weren't so opposed to taking orders, I might think that your suggestion was a good one," he said. "As it is, I think I'll try...my own version." 

"Don't hurt the human now!" Botan yelled. "I don't feel like hauling your worthless halfling koorime arse off to jail too! Now just keep him there!" 

The man saw this as an ample opportunity to try and run. Hiei did not agree with this ample opportunity. Neither did Hiei's sword. The man suddenly changed his mind and agreed with Hiei and Hiei's Sharp Pointy Thing, backing up against the end of the alleyway.  

"Listen to me, Kurama," Botan was saying from her position on the kitsune's back. "I know you want revenge. I know you spent years of your life doing exactly as you pleased in the Makai. But now everything's changed. You chose this life. You could have run away, but you chose to stay with your mother. Even if you die, you won't join Shiori. Not bloodstained and hurting like you are. Not if we execute you and keep your body and soul. She won't rest until you rest," Botan whispered. "She loves you even now. Don't make her regret loving the demon she raised as her son." 

Kurama's eyes flew open all the way, the silver haze parting as a strangled whimper fought its way out of his throat. Botan quickly jumped off of him and ducked under Hiei's sword, pacing towards the man cowering at the end of the alley. "Get out of my way," she said to Hiei. Then she smiled brilliantly at the man and touched him on the forehead. White light spilled from where she touched as the man's eyes grew unfocused. "I'll take him to the police," Botan said. "I'll get everything fixed up for you," she said to Kurama, who was slowly curling into a ball in the shadows.  

Hiei glowered at her. "This is just going to get buried in _so_ much paperwork, isn't it." 

Botan's eyes narrowed. "Not if I can help it." 

"What influence do you have?" Hiei sneered. "You never do anything but simper and giggle and collect the occasional soul." 

"I am the shirigami," Botan said coolly. "Ferry girl to the River Styx." 

"You're Koenma's--" 

"Hiei." Kurama's voice was shaking violently. "Don't tempt me. Not now. Let her go." 

Hiei sulked back against the wall and clumsily slammed his sword back into the sheath while Botan poked the human along the alley and around the corner. 

"It's all over me," Kurama whispered. "Her blood...his blood...my blood. It's all over. It's all sticky. It's...it's...I don't want to wash it off." He looked up pleadingly at Hiei. "I want...I want..." The fox-demon's eyes filled with tears as his voice sailed upwards. "I don't know what I want anymore! I don't know what I am! I don't know what I'm going to be! I don't know...I don't know anything anymore. I used to be an animal sometimes, and now...I don't know what I am! I'm an animal again, but...but...I could never...I could...I want to be myself again!" he screamed, collapsing on the ground and making some strange whimpering noises. 

It took Hiei at least a minute to figure out that Kurama was crying. 

&

Fluffy: We don't particularly condone whiny hysterical Kurama. It's just rather appropriate in this setting, since Kurama is a little…on edge. Well, more than a little. He's a nervous wreck, frankly. He'll go back to normal at some point. The whiny self-loathing hysteria isn't permanent. Don't leeeeeeeeeeave us! Oh, and since Fate is stupid and forgot to include the review replies for the last chapter, they're all going in this chapter. 

**khmai****—**Mmm, no love triangle. I already have a love….funny-shaped polygon-thing going on in Loving Doctor Jekyll. Which, incidentally, you should read, because I shamelessly plug that story with few reactions.

**Eagle McCloud—**Never fear, insane Kurama shall return. Really.

**Psychopathic Sixth Grader—**Aww. You people make me blush. And that sort of thing is interesting to explain away to my roomies.

**Silverchild**** of the Winds—**Erg, yes, Botan-without-a-personality irks me. So I tried to maintain the one she has in the series—snarky, teasing, goofy, giggly, but with a definite sense of duty. She'll lighten up once her job and Kurama's life aren't on the line anymore.

**Randall Flagg—**Heh, you can't, can you…please do come back!

**Akiko680—**Sorry I took so long. Two of these chapters have been kicking around on my computer for…well, a while.

**Hikaru**** Kosuzaku—**I liketh your name. ^^;; Sorry for the longlong wait…I hope the double-chapter makes up for it.

**Nips—**Thank you muchly! I know it's overused, and I was worried…and ooh, you gave me an idea for a chapter name. It's bloody hard to think of them. ^_^ Sankyuu!

**HieilovesBotan****—**Eeep. I updated, I updated…

Duel: See those people? I will spare those people. JOIN THOSE WHOM I SHALL SPARE WHEN I DESTROY THE WORLD!! Now review, frail mortals! *minor explosions break out*


	4. The Sound Of Tears

Fate: Here it be. It was fun to write, once I stopped procrastinating. Hiei and Yusuke both swear a lot, so...uh...yeah. Not like you didn't know that. Moving on.

Disclaimer: IT'S NOT OURS, NOW TOSS OFF! *sigh*

&

"...fuck."

This was Hiei's summary of the situation at hand.

Thank you, Hiei.

"I'm sorry..." Kurama whispered, sitting upright at last and scrubbing at his bloody face. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..."

Hiei stared at him. "...?"

Kurama huddled in on himself once more and kept murmuring. "I'm sorry...I'm such...such an awful...I'm a demon..."

"Yes. Yes, you are," Hiei said coolly. "I thought we'd been over this several times."

Kurama swallowed. "Good. Someone agrees with me." Sniffle. 

Hiei stared again, this time with one eyebrow raised. "Kitsune."

Sniff. "I'm sorry."

Hiei considered hitting himself in the forehead. Very hard. Several times. With a heavy, blunt object. Perhaps the nearest wall would suffice. Then he went on to have strange fantasies about beating Kurama's head on the wall as well. "So you were only a demon up until now, eh?" he asked. "Well, what are you now? Another sniveling, spineless human?"

"Humans are evil." Sniffle. "I guess that's me."

Those headbanging fantasies were starting to look better and better to a certain fire demon. "This is getting nowhere," he growled, and turned to stalk away down the alley. 

"I'm..." Kurama began. 

Hiei sighed and kept moving. "Save it for someone who gives a flying fuck about your humanity!"

The end of the alley was silent. Hiei debating speeding away and not coming back. Hiei also considered giving the dumbass demon reject behind him a few lumps for the day's troubles. Turning back around was also an option. When demons were quiet, something was usually on the not-good side. And Kurama was definitely silent back there.

Hiei's eyes narrowed as nothing more happened, then put one hand on his katana sheath and took a step forwards in preparation to kick it up to superspeed.

A bloodstained hand with bitten nails grabbed his upper left arm, holding him in place. Hiei's eyes flew wide again, and his sword flew out of its sheath and through the air in a blur of silver and black.

Whoever-it-was turned with him, then whirled around, pulling him sideways hard and catching the double-edged blade as it moved. 

Hiei scowled up at Kurama. "What the hell do you call that?"

"Don't leave yet," Kurama said, his eyes shadowed by his hair. Fresh blood dripped from the hand tightening around the double-edged blade, a sharp contrast to the dried blood covering his formerly innocuous outfit. "Don't."

"And why should I do that?" Hiei sneered.

"Because I don't want you to," Kurama said softly, stubbornly. "I want you to talk to me."

"What about, the bleeding weather?" Hiei demanded.

"About how much of a demon you think I am," Kurama said, finally tilting his head enough that Hiei could see his eyes. 

Hiei stared at him again. "...?"

"I mean it," Kurama snapped, his lips curling back over teeth that had never quite been human. Orthodontists and dentists just couldn't correct the pronounced incisors, though everything else about him was perfect. It was his one flaw, the one thing that kept him from being the next demonoid Adonis. "Sometimes you treat me like a demon, and sometimes you treat me like a human. Sometimes you act like I'm your equal, and other times you just won't talk to me at all. What the fuck is your problem?!"

Hiei blinked. "Now when did Minamino Shuuichi start cursing out anyone – let alone his elders?"

"I'm older," Kurama retorted, his eyes narrowing. "Stop dodging the subject and answer me! The sooner you answer me the sooner you can go back to your boring little life hiding in the trees and stabbing unsuspecting small mammals!"

Hiei rolled his eyes eloquently. "Che." Together, these two things spoke volumes.

"Will you just answer me? How much of a demon do you think I am?" Kurama snarled. "_How much?!"_

Hiei stared at him for a long moment. "Right now? You're human as hell."

Kurama slowly let him go. "Human...as...hell..." He took a step back, his hair falling over his eyes again. "Human as hell..." A soft laugh escaped his lips. "Clever of you not to answer my question at all!" He leapt forwards, grabbing Hiei's shoulders this time. Hiei automatically put his sword up to Kurama's neck. Kurama didn't notice. "No more of your games. I don't see the point! I go away, once you give me a straight answer. I can just go on my merry little way back to my horrible human _life!_ So why won't you _tell_ me what you really think I am! Humans think I'm human! Humans don't know the difference! Humans don't know _anything!_ _You_ know. Tell me!"

Hiei stared at where his blade met Kurama's neck. If he moved his wrist in the slightest--

Muscles shifted.

The sword dropped away.

"Stupid fucking youko. Your lot always make a fuss over nothing," Hiei mumbled, breaking free of Kurama's grip with no small effort on his part.

"You...ko..." Kurama said slowly.

"Yes, youko," Hiei repeated impatiently. "Kitsune, youko, youkai, what else do you want to be called?"

"I always fancied 'Duke Peachypoof de Panteris'," Kurama said, and sniffled again.

"...if you're serious, I'm going to have to rip your entrails out. With my teeth. Right now."

Kurama sniffled again and began shuffling along the alley, heading for the street.

"_Now_ what are you doing?"

"I have to go talk to the police," Kurama whispered.

"What for?" Hiei inquired.

Kurama turned back to look at him, tears slowly making tracks down his grimy face. "My mother died. They'll...want to arrest me. They'll think I killed her."

"Then why are you going to talk to them?" Hiei asked, rolling his eyes. "Idiot."

"The longer I stay away, the more suspicious I am," Kurama said, his voice catching.

"Then why go at all?" Hiei asked. "Kitsune, this is your problem with being human. You have all these strange ideas."

"I...I have to go," Kurama said shakily. "I...I know the man who killed her. I don't have to be arrested. I have to go. It's as close to vengeance as I can get. I have to...I _want_ to do something to that man...anything."

Hiei looked at him for a long moment. "..."

"Come with me?" Kurama asked imploringly.

_Must...resist...stupid...fucking...youko...eyes..._

"...hn."

Kurama sniffled some more, swiped at his face uselessly, then slowly turned and shuffled into the street. Hiei discreetly followed, as though it was his own idea.

It actually _was_ his own idea. Really. The youko eyes had nothing to do with it. At all.

"This is it," Kurama murmured, stopping at a cinderblock building and looking at it with some apprehension. "I don't know what to do..."

"Kuramaaaaaa!"

Kurama tensed. Hiei flitted out of sight. Yusuke burst through one of the doors and ran up to Kurama. "Kurama! It's all over! He confessed! He signed a confession and everything! There's all these legalities to go through but he confessed and no one's challenging it! Look, come inside, and we'll get everything sorted out. I know everyone here, they'll treat you right," he said, slinging an arm around Kurama's shoulders and tugging the demon along with him. Hiei watched as they approached the door, then caught up before he could be locked out of the action.

"Jesus, Hiei, would you put the sword away before they lock you up?" Yusuke hissed. "Why can't you go back to lurking in the corners?"

Hiei ignored him as two people ran up to them in the hall, dragging Kurama from Yusuke's grasp and packing him off into a small room. The door slammed, and Yusuke and Hiei were left staring at each other in the hallway.

"Do you mind telling me what the hell is going on here?" Hiei asked.

"Oh, they're just going to get a statement or something from him. You know, supporting evidence or...or...dammit, what did they say? And I just watched that show last night, too..."

Hiei stared at the ceiling. And quite an interesting ceiling it was, too. Yes. Interesting. Bleeding fascinating, it was. You didn't see ceilings like this one in the Makai.

Are you convinced?

"Are they going to kill the human?" Hiei asked.

Yusuke shrugged. "Usually they go down fighting the cops."

Hiei finally tore his eyes away from the ceiling. "..."

"Kurama's gonna be fine," Yusuke said.

"...?"

"Aren't you worried at _all?_" Yusuke demanded, throwing his hands into the air. 

"Hn," Hiei said dismissively. "Now that he no longer has that one weak spot in his abilities alive, he'll either become much stronger or much weaker."

"Is that all you care about? Ah, what am I talking about, of course that's all you care about. Jesus, demons, I'll never get used to them." Yusuke said with a sigh.

"If you get used to something, you're going to lose it. Like that fox in there," Hiei said, jerking his head towards the closed door.

"Aren't you talkative," Yusuke replied. "You volunteered a whole sentence by yourself."

"..."

"You even started a topic!"

"..."

"I think the world might be ending. You should check if the Makai is freezing over next time you go there," Yusuke kept going.

"..."

Suddenly the door across from them swung open. Hiei put his hand on his sword automatically.

"Put that away," Yusuke hissed.

"Here's your friend," a man said briskly, stepping out with Kurama wavering next to him. The demon's eyes were even darker than before, and he looked to be on the verge of collapsing. "He's been put through a very nasty reminder of what happened today. The doctor looked at him quickly before the statement, so he's certainly physically all right. Mentally...well, no one can ever be really prepared for something like this. Do you have a place for him to stay?"

"I'll take him home. Is his house a crime scene?" Yusuke asked.

"We'll get your contact information, Urameshi," the man said, waving him off. "And don't let me see you around here again!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Yusuke said airily, taking Kurama's arm and starting towards the door. Hiei trailed behind quietly as Yusuke paused inside the door, lit a cigarette, blew the smoke at the receptionist with a charming grin, then hauled ass out of there. 

"You're taking me to your house?" Kurama asked softly. "Thank you very much. I'm sorry to be so much trouble to you."

"It's nothing, don't worry about it," Yusuke said, brushing it off. "You seem to have picked up a stalker, though."

"Hn," Hiei said sulkily. "I'm going. There wasn't any torturing of that human."

"No, that's after we get the lawyers," Yusuke insisted. "They handle all that."

Hiei looked intrigued.

"He's kidding," Kurama cautioned.

"...che." With that, Hiei sulkily bounded up into the trees and vanished.

"Yusuke..."

"Yeah?"

"I don't know what's happening anymore," Kurama whispered.

"You don't, when stuff like this happens. I'm...I'm amazed you're still in one piece," Yusuke said quietly. "Look, you're lucky, I live out here too. It's a good thing we're not going to Kuwabara's. He lives way out."

"I have to take these," Kurama said, holding up a paper envelope filled with pills.

"Sleeping pills?" Yusuke inquired.

Kurama nodded. "They said it would help me with the shock. They want me to come back and talk to them more when I'm...in better shape."

"I'll take you back when you need to go," Yusuke offered. "Look, we're here. You can crash in my room, and I'll take the couch."

"I wouldn't want to – "

"You're not, I sleep out there all the time anyway," Yusuke told him cheerily as they went up the stairs. He opened the door and stuck his head in. "Mum? You there?"

"Yusuke?" Atsuko looked out. "Oh...man, you don't look good," she added on seeing Kurama.

"Mum, this's Kurama...you've seen him around. He's gonna crash with us for a bit. Kurama, I'm gonna show you my room and then I'll talk with my mum a bit," Yusuke said.

"Okay," Kurama said softly as he was ushered into a small, messy room.

"I'll leave you to do whatever you want. Bathroom's across the hall, towels are...somewhere. Futon's under the...I think the manga, but if it's not there, check under the DVD player," Yusuke said. "I'll be right back."

Kurama nodded, then slowly started cleaning off the futon from under what looked like all the manga sold in the past few years. About halfway through, his eyes drifted closed and he hit the futon with a soft thump.

The branches shifted outside his window.

There was no wind.

$

Fluffy: *is busy dancing in the middle of the room* Eh? I'm supposed to say something? *blinks*

**Nips – **Heh, Shiori's a little occupied, but...well, you'll see. Oh, and I'd like to be a professional fiction writer, so it's good to know that my fanfiction is actually doing something for my writing style! ^_^

**higashikaze – **Disturbed is better. That needs to be on a shirt as a slogan.

**HieilovesBotan – ***blush* Thank you!

**Randall Flagg – **See? I updated faster!

**Psychopathic Sixth Grader – **O_O *stares* ...

Duel: Hiii~i! *waves* Review or I'll have to kill you! That'll be all! *sticks the Review Stick of Doom into the ground and leans on it*


	5. The Touch Of Dreams

Fate: So here it is. I'm sorry, I had a hellish weekend, and it's not over yet. I kind of haven't done my homework either. But I wanted to write instead, and so I did! Behold the first of many gratuitous shower scenes!

Disclaimer: Everything here belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi-sempai! Mwahaha!

* * *

Hiei sat cross-legged in the tree, nonchalantly staring in through the window off to his left. Meanwhile, Kurama was standing under the shower tap, hands scrubbing through his hair in an effort to rake the blood out. Pinkish water streamed down his skin as he tilted his head up, eyes closed, and just stood there, shivering under the cold stream. Kurama shook his head violently, blood clots coming loose from his hair and flopping into the drain.

His eyes opened and he tangled his hands in his hair, tugging at the red strands. It looked like a bad dye job was washing out, except for the fact that his hair was staying the same dark, arterial red.

He haltingly raised one bloody hand up to his face, staring at it, his eyes going wide as his breathing became slow and erratic. His mouth opened involuntarily, his tongue sliding over his teeth.

Kurama's eyes closed as he made a soft purring noise in the back of his throat, licking desperately at his hand, then shifting to the other one, scouring the blood from his skin.

_So the human-lover's still got some demon in him,_ Hiei thought. _Better than none._

He reflected back on Kurama's panicked questioning in the alleyway. _I suppose it's to be expected that he's drinking the blood...he must be trying to become more of a demon. Idiot._ He rolled his eyes, then went back to studying Kurama. 

Really, it was all to study the human muscular structure. It would be useful when dismembering Kuwabara. 

"Oi, Kurama, you alive in there?" Yusuke yelled.

Kurama opened his eyes. "Yes, sorry...the blood's kind of stuck in my hair."

"Ew. Thanks for the update," Yusuke said. "Need anything?"

"No," Kurama called, finally giving up on his hair and stepping out of the shower. "Well, yes. Do you have a hairbrush?"

Pause. "Maybe...? Keiko! Do you have a hairbrush?"

Kurama slumped to the ground, scrubbing at his hair with a convenient towel and grimacing as it turned reddish with blood. "Stupid stuff...just won't come out..." he grumbled, throwing the towel to the floor and collecting his clothes. 

"Yusuke!" Keiko this time. Kurama finished tugging on his clothes and wandered out, still fighting with his hair. "Oh! Kurama-kun[*]! Did…did you want a hairbrush?"

Kurama blinked. "Oh. Yes, if it's no trouble."

"None at all," Keiko reassured him, digging through her briefcase and unearthing a hairbrush. "C'mon. Let's go sit down. Yusuke's being useless today." Her face darkened as she led Kurama out of Hiei's view.

The trees rustled as Hiei quickly changed positions to keep an eye on the proceedings inside. He didn't want to bother using his Jagan for something so small.

"I'm having Yusuke clean his room. You're to be congratulated for getting as far as you did without being eaten by small green fuzzy monsters with one eye and seven legs," Keiko announced as she put Kurama on the couch.

"It's the demon in me. They saw it and ran screaming," Kurama murmured bitterly.

Keiko sighed and sat next to the redhead. "Listen, you," she said. "Demon, human, whatever. You're one of the nicest people I know. And I'm very sorry about your mum. Is there anything I can do? Anything at all?"

Hiei snorted. His response would have been something along the lines of "Yes, go _away,_", but no, not Kurama. Kurama had to go and say, "Do you know what happened to those meds the doctors gave me?"

"I'll go see if Yusuke's found them. I'll be right back," Keiko said, getting up and making for the door.

"Wait!" Kurama twisted towards her. "Can…can you also ask Yusuke what I need to do for the police? He…seems like he should know."

Keiko looked sulky. "Of course he would." Her face brightened. "But of course I will," she added.

"…Thank you, Keiko-chan," Kurama said, looking relieved.

"Any time," she replied with a smile. She hurried out of the room, leaving Kurama huddled on the couch, staring blankly at the TV.

Hiei debated throwing something at the window and telling the fox to snap out of it, but he decided against it mainly because Yusuke and his squeaky bint were still running around and might decide to investigate.

And that would require annoying explanations.

Hiei hated explanations with a burning, fiery passion. This was mainly because they required speaking in coherent sentences without the use of noncommittal monosyllables. He wasn't really a fan of doing things like that.

So he simply sat there in the shadow of the branches, staring at a point on the fox's forehead and wondering why Kurama didn't even seem to notice that someone was watching him.

*

Kurama rested his chin in one hand, staring at his reflection in the TV screen and wondering why he didn't seem to care that someone had been watching him ever since he'd woken up an hour before.

He felt for the remote with one hand and flicked the TV on, sick of looking at himself. Even if someone else was doing it didn't mean that he had to, too. His mum had taught him that, though it had mainly applied to fads in the past —

He shut his eyes abruptly, muscles tensed as he tried to drive those thoughts from his brain. When he opened his eyes, an infomercial was showing for weeding gutters without killing yourself.

Kurama nearly burst out laughing. Death was just everywhere these days. It clung to one and didn't let go.

Pity, that.

"What on earth?" Keiko asked as she walked back into the room. "Yusuke's gotten stuck in the closet, so it may be a while before you get an answer to your other question. However, I found your meds. Do you want them now?"

Kurama shook his head. "I'll wait until I can talk to Yusuke." He began flipping channels rather aimlessly as Keiko sat back down next to him.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Keiko inquired.

Kurama shook his head. "I'm not hungry."

"I understand."

After about another half-hour of TV, Yusuke finally staggered back into the room. "I have triumphed!"

Keiko looked up at him, but Kurama didn't move. He simply asked, "What do the police want me to do?"

Yusuke flopped down next to Keiko. "Well, they want a statement from you, and they want another medical and psychiatric evaluation, since you're under eighteen."

Kurama almost smiled. "Am I really?"

"As far as they know, you're under eighteen," Yusuke corrected himself. "They want to make sure that you're all right, and if there's anyone you can stay with."

"I can live by myself," Kurama replied, looking perplexed.

"You know they'll be opposed to that, though," Yusuke reasoned. "Wasn't…your mother dating someone?"

Kurama nodded shortly. "Yes. Yes, she was. I…don't think I can stay with them, though. I…owe my mother a debt that I can never pay. I stole her child and replaced it with myself. I…don't owe them anything. But I would like to stay in her house."

Yusuke nodded. "Well, you might be able to…you know…convince them that you _are_ eighteen and such. Or something," he added.

"Yusuke!" Keiko said angrily.

"Aw, come on, Keiko…"

"Is there anything else?" Kurama inquired, neatly defusing the argument before it started.

"Well, they might want evidence from you at the trial," Yusuke said wisely.

"Yusuke, you need to stop watching bad cop shows," Keiko said angrily. "They'll _tell_ him if they want that stuff. They'll call us here if they want anything else."

Kurama nodded slowly. "Okay." He looked at Keiko. "I think I want to go to sleep now."

Keiko nodded. "Of course. You don't have to sleep on a pile of manga anymore, so why don't you go to Yusuke's room now that it's clean enough?"

"I don't want to impose…"

"You're not," Yusuke replied. "And what's wrong with my manga?"

"It's people like you who live in their parent's basement with live-sized action figures and girlie pinups their entire lives!" Keiko said irritably as the pair of them led Kurama down the hall.

"Don't tell me you don't read manga!"

"Icha Icha Paradise?! I wouldn't call that manga!"

"…shit. Keiko, you really weren't supposed to see that. Or comment on it. And it's healthier than – "

"_No more!"_

"Ah. Heh. Heh. Yes. About that. So. Uh. Kurama?"

"Yes, Yusuke?"

"...uh."

"You're useless!" Keiko yelled, booting Yusuke out into the hallway. 

Kurama fought down a snicker. "Can you wake me in time for school tomorrow?"

"You're not going," Keiko told him severely. "We'll get it fixed up for you somehow, but you're not going. You need your rest, and you need to sleep off the shock as best you can. It's not only something mental that's happened to you, but it's physical too."

Kurama nodded. "I see."

Keiko handed over two pills from a paper envelope. "I'll put these somewhere where they won't get lost, eaten by rabid dustbunnies, or taken by Atsoko by accident."

"That's a good plan," Kurama agreed, swallowing the capsules and grimacing. 

"Sleep well," Keiko said, sliding the door shut.

Kurama took two steps forward and collapsed on the futon, hands over his head in an effort to block out everything but blank oblivion.

the next morning

"Yusukeeeee! You need to go to school!"

"Kurama's not going."

"His mother died! Of course he's not going! _Your_ mother is asleep on the couch! You're not even wearing your uniform!"

"I never wear my uniform."

"Yusukeeeee!"

"Who's gonna stay here and keep an eye on Kurama? My mum? Kuwabara?"

"…well…"

"Look, I need to stay here so Kurama's not alone if he wakes up before I get back."

"But – "

"You have cram school and everything, so you won't get back until later anyway. Look, Keiko, you can do me a favour at school and make sure that Kuwabara knows what's going on and doesn't do anything stupid like running back here in the middle of the day. I'd tell him myself but he's always with those other guys. They'll go away if _you_ want to talk to him."

"Well…"

"Pleeeeeeease?"

"Okay, okay, fine, Yusuke…but I'm bringing you home some work, and if I get in trouble, you're _so_ losing all your cigarettes for a week!"

"Yeah, yeah," Yusuke said dismissively as Keiko left. "Whew," he added, settling down in one of the chairs and picking up the remote. 

*

Hiei had gotten tired of being rained on and was now sitting in a corner of Yusuke's room, watching Kurama. It wasn't like he hadn't done anything like this before or anything.

His eyes flicked to the clock for the millionth time. It had been nearly five hours since he'd woken up to discover Yusuke lazing about watching TV, some older lady still asleep on the couch, and Kurama dead to the world in that formerly messy room. The fox _still_ wasn't waking up, either.

The door slid open with reasonable decorum, considering that it was Yusuke opening the door. "Kurama?"

"Mff." Kurama opened one eye, then slowly sat up. "I'm awake. I've just been…lying here," he said wryly.

"You want coffee?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama nodded. "Please."

"It'll be ready when you're out of the shower," Yusuke said, noting the way Kurama was examining his hair and the look of distaste on the youko's face. He then quietly closed the door again, though not without a quick, unnoticed glance at a particular corner of his room. _There definitely was _not_ a pile of black clothes there last night._

Hiei kept watching as Kurama unwound himself from the sheets and wandered out of the room, then got to his feet and stretched. "Damn," he muttered as he looked at the clock, then reached over and picked up a book with a most decidedly blank cover. He flipped through it, his eyes widening. "What…the…hell…?" he asked the universe at large after about five minutes of fascinated perusal.

"Oh, is _that_ what Keiko-chan was talking about?" Kurama asked from the door. He blinked at Hiei, then looked out the window. "Ah. It's raining."

"Hn," Hiei offered.

Kurama nodded. It was right about then that Hiei dragged his nose out of the book and started wondering if just possibly there was some magic that forced characters to come to life in the form of recently showered, red-haired, towel-clad fox demons. 

Maybe there was something to be said for the Ningenkai after all.

Hiei decided to make a strategic retreat, and sauntered out of the room and into the kitchen. 

"You want coffee?" Yusuke asked without missing a beat.

Hiei blinked. "Fine. What the hell is this?" he asked, handing Yusuke the book.

"Something you should never tell Keiko that I have," Yusuke replied, pushing coffee over to him. "Are you here for a reason, or is this your version of being friendly?"

"It's raining," Hiei said simply.

Yusuke stared at him. "And?"

"…"

"Ooookay. I'll stop asking questions now," Yusuke announced, lighting a cigarette and inhaling thoughtfully. 

"About what, that book?" Kurama inquired, padding out into the kitchen and finger-combing his hair out. Wet, it easily hung to his hips. "I don't know, from the look of it, Keiko-chan just might be intrigued."

"You two scare me sometimes," Yusuke muttered. "Here. Coffee."

Kurama accepted the mug and stared at it. "Thank you. How do you go about arranging funeral ceremonies here?"

Yusuke blinked at the sudden change of topic. "I…um…talk to the guy your mother was dating? I don't know. I missed that part of my own."

Kurama smiled wryly. "May I use your phone? I don't know where my cell phone is."

Yusuke nodded. "Knock yourself out."

Hiei quietly nursed his coffee during Kurama's absence, while Yusuke went through five cups and two cigarettes. 

The front door banged open as Keiko stumbled out of her shoes and dropped her briefcase on the floor. "I'm back," she gasped. "Did Kuwabara drop by?"

Yusuke nodded, quickly concealing the book on the table. "He was here a couple of hours ago. His sister called and told him to come home, though."

"How's Kurama?" Keiko inquired.

"Awake," Yusuke said carefully.

"And – oh my God," Keiko said, finally beholding Hiei. "You scared me!"

"…" Hiei rolled his eyes and went back to his coffee.

"So where is Kurama?" Keiko inquired.

"I'm here," Kurama said. He looked deathly pale, and his eyes were reddened. "He's already got it all arranged, but he was glad I called so we could get some things set that he wasn't sure about, but…it's all set for tomorrow evening."

"What is?" Keiko asked, looking confused.

Kurama smiled vaguely. "Her memorial."

* * *

Fluffy: [*] Since we've never seen Kurama and Keiko interact, we don't know if they use honorifics on each other or not. We're assuming that they do, as both of them are relatively polite people. Oh, and the Icha Icha Paradise reference? We couldn't resist. And for those of you who don't get it, go read 'Taikou'. Please?

**HieiLovesBotan****:** Uh. Please don't die?

**DarkAutumn****:** Yeah, I am rather beating him up, aren't I? ^^;;

**LishaVilla****:** Wow! Thanks for the crit! I'm basing Botan's strength on her work with a bat in the Saint Beasts arc, but yes, Kurama really is out of it. Sorry! He should improve once he stops wibbling so much.

**Arayal****:** I hope you stay anyways, and thank you!

**Liviana****: **Doesn't it, though?

**Henrika****: **Heh. I thought about something like that, I admit…oh, and it's before she married Hatanaka, but not that much before. I would have made it after, but I didn't know enough about his stepfather and brother to feel comfortable making him such a major character…so this does alter things somewhat. ^^;;

**firedragongirl****: **O_O That sounds uncomfortable.

**Schizothief****:** Yay, 9.5! And he probably could use a cookie or two. Or twenty. ^^;;

**SweetMisery****:** Yup. Futon.

Duel: ^_^ That made me happy. But you can do better!


	6. The Smell Of Revenge

Fate: Ta-dah! This one was fun to write. Got a tad long, but was fun. INVASION OF THE MINAMINO SHUUICHI FANGIRLS!

Disclaimer: Not ours. Any of it. Except Yoshiko. We want her. Oh, and Aven Vincent. But you can keep the fangirls.

* * *

the next night

"Shuuichi-kuuuuuuuuuun!"

"Omigod! Shuuichi-kun!"

"Shuuichi-kun? Daijobu ka?!"

Kurama stiffened but didn't look up. "What the fu – ?" Hiei began.

Kurama clapped a hand over his mouth. "My friends from school must have just arrived. _No,_" he added, when Hiei reached for his sword. "They have an internal hierarchy which keeps them in order."

Hiei was growing tired of the shrill girly voices sounding from the hallways, but decided not to argue. Not like he wanted ningen blood soiling his sword or anything anyway.

"Shuu-shuu-chaaaaaaan!"

"Oh, I bloody draw the line there. Stupid tarts," an alto voice muttered from just outside the room. "URUSAI! DON'T MAKE ME GET OUT THE ROLLED NEWSPAPER! BEHAVE, DAMMIT!" THWACK

"But Shuu-shuu-chan!"

"Be respectful, dammit!" THWACK THWACK THWACK "If you can't manage to be decent, go outside and whinge!"

"Deeeeemo..."

"OUT!" THWACK

"Hai, hai, senpai..."

"Sorry, senpai..."

The alto voice sighed sadly and showed itself to be a part of a black-haired schoolgirl coming forward to kneel in front of Kurama. She was part of a small group paying their respects to the bereaved redhead, who was at that point looking as though he'd been smacked over the head with a fish which happened to have been duct taped to an enormous brick.

"Sorry, Shuuichi-kun," the girl began. "I'm really terribly sorry. I thought they'd stay outside as usual," she said, staring at the tatami mats. "I didn't think they'd be so...focused."

"No, no, it's okay. Thanks, Yoshi-chan," Kurama replied, looking up. He glanced over at Hiei, caught the faint confused glance, and almost smiled. "Hiei, Oyumada Yoshiko, Yoshi-chan, Hiei."

Hiei and Yoshiko stared at each other for a long moment. Hiei saw a girl of about sixteen with straight black hair, wide eyes, and the hint of a pink and black spangled Hello Kitty collar underneath the high neckline of her uniform. Yoshiko saw a dark-haired, red-eyed muscular young man wearing a rather ratty dark shirt with "SAVES THE DAY" emblazoned across it in teal and painfully tight black jeans with a sheathed sword stuck through one of the belt loops. Each looked quite perplexed by the other's presence and appearance.

Yoshiko jerked her head towards the sliding door. "I'd like to talk to you, Hiei. Not in here, though."

"Hiei." Kurama jumped in before Hiei could reply in his normal manner. "Do it?" It was almost a command, but the force wasn't there.

"Yeah, doing it," Hiei muttered, scrambling resentfully to his feet and leaving the room with the girl. He wasn't sure why he was following Kurama's orders. Possibly it had something to do with the big, imploring youko eyes.

"You can call me Yoshi-chan," the girl started.

Hiei shrugged. "Do I have to?"

"It doesn't matter. Shuuichi-kun matters." The girl folded her arms. "I'm his best friend at school. You must be his best friend the rest of the time."

Hiei tilted his head and looked at her inquisitively. "So in the ningenkai what friends you have depends on where you are? Strange. Usually who you have as friends depends on how useful you are to them at the time."

"Ningenkai?" Yoshiko blinked. "Huh. Well, I see what you're getting at. That's usually how it is most of the time too. Listen. Hiei? Shuuichi-kun mentions you sometimes. He pretends he doesn't, so you must be some kind of secret...heeeeyyy..." Her eyes sparkled. "Are you his boyfriend?"

Hiei looked even more confused. "...?"

"Never mind. It was worth a shot," Yoshiko sighed. "So. You're the mystery friend, and I'm the Head Fangirl. Teamed up with the creepy pretty-boi, we make a team made somewhere really unpleasant. Look. You've got to take care of him."

"Kurama can fend for himself," Hiei said idly.

Yoshiko looked slightly at a loss. "D'you mean Shuuichi-kun?"

"Yeah," Hiei told her.

"Not going to ask," Yoshiko said. "Can we get back to Shuuichi-Kurama-kun? Sure, he can normally take care of himself, but...now isn't normal. We need to cooperate. Or something," she finished. "I don't know. I just wanted to meet you."

"Why?" Hiei demanded.

Yoshiko opened her mouth to answer, but was drowned out by a tiny, pink-haired girl in a sailor suit careening through the halls and screeching at the top of her lungs. "Senpai! Sennnpaaaaaiii!"

"Yes?" Yoshiko asked, folding her arms and looking very angry.

"Does Shuuichi-sama need taking care of?" the girl asked, her eyes whirling around in her head and flashing all colours of the rainbow. "I thought perhaps if he wanted to –"

"Bloody _hell_ no," Yoshiko snapped. "The boy's not for your pity fest. Go to someone else's memorial and leave him alone."

Hiei's respect for Yoshiko twitched upward a bit as the pink-haired thing slunk away without another word.

"I'm going back in," Yoshiko said. "Please consider what I asked."

"Hn." Hiei watched her go sit next to Kurama. He stared at the pair of them for a very long time afterward.

"So you see, it all makes _sense_!"

"No it doesn't."

"How could it not make sense?" Yusuke demanded.

Kuwabara was unmoved. "_What_ about Kurama and the midget? How does _anything_ you're saying relate to them? Do you have any proof? What, exactly, are you talking about? Does it have to do with kittens? Dammit, Urameshi!"

"You're hopeless," Yusuke announced, throwing up his hands and nearly smacking Shizuru.

"What's he hopeless about?" Shizuru asked, batting Yusuke's hands away.

"Their _eyes!_ And the way Kurama _stands!_ And the interpretation thingie! And they spend _all_ their time together! And Kurama and the _towel!_ The towel, dammit!" Yusuke again waved his arms for emphasis. "You should have _seen_ Hiei's face! And the whole blood thing, that was kinky, but they're _demons._"

Shizuru's eyes went wide. "Ooooh," she breathed. "I've only seen them together once, but it makes so much _sense_ now."

"You see?" Yusuke demanded of Kuwabara.

"No," Kuwabara replied. "_What_ are you going on about?"

"Yusukeeee!" Keiko and Botan both hurried up and joined the group standing outside Shiori's fiance's house. "What's this?" Keiko asked.

"Hiei and Kurama!" Yusuke burst out. "The rain! He was _in_ the _room_ when it was raining! Do you remember the coffee? And the _eyes_ they make at each other! And did I mention the way Kurama stands?!"

"Oooh," Keiko said simply.

"And don't forget the sado-masochistic bits where Hiei went all 'I love to hurt you' on Kurama," Botan piped up.

"Oooooh," everyone went. Except for Kuwabara, who was still really bleeding confused, having either not been on the spot during the recent rabid attack of the subtext or not being of a fangirlish mindset. Your choice which.

"Someone just _tell_ me what's going on?" Kuwabara demanded.

"It's the – "

"Ah ah ah," Shizuru said, holding up a finger to hush Yusuke. "Allow me." She leaned over and began whispering in Kuwabara's ear.

"Meanwhile, I need to give a progress report," Botan said, discreetly taking Yusuke by the elbow and leading him a few feet away from the gossiping horde of teens. "Koenma-sama has agreed to 'borrow' the human for a bit and investigate him. They think that the idea of a gang going after Kurama's mother in such a violent way is strange enough to warrant a little digging. We want to know just what sort of gang it is. I'm going to have to be on the spot for a while there, so don't look for me for a few days," Botan reported. "As the shinigami, Koenma will sometimes use me if the investigator doesn't turn up much. The investigator is a legend of his own, so we don't expect such a thing, but...you never know."

"Wait, so you have powers as the Grim Reaper?" Yusuke inquired, scratching his head.

Botan held her fingers close together. "Just a few. My pneumatherapy, a bit of fire and dark arts, and then the really extreme ones – giving life and giving death. I can't use those more than once every hundred years or so." She glanced over her shoulder. "Oh look, I think Kuwabara's just figured out what's going on. You'll have to tell him what I told you when he recovers."

Kuwabara had one eye squinched up and was apparently trying to play a game of midair connect-the-dots with one finger and no board.

"Maybe we shouldn't have told him about Kurama and Hiei," Yusuke remarked. "Now he's going to start making fun of Hiei more than ever, and then Hiei will eviscerate him, and we'll all be screwed."

"Just be discreet for a while," Botan said, flapping one hand dismissively. "I've got to go talk to Kurama."

"Wait until after the people have gone," Yusuke cautioned. "He's been on edge lately."

Botan looked around at the stream of people flowing into and out of the house. There were a lot more going out than in. "Good call," she said softly. "Does he have any other human family, do you know?"

"Well, there's his mother's fiance, and his would-be stepbrother," Yusuke listed. "And there's this girl running around too. I've seen them together before. She seems to be in charge of beating off other girls with a stick. He seems to be pretty dependent on her right now. More than on the guy his mother would've married. Oh, and..._you_ know." Yusuke looked around furtively, as though the 'you know' in question would magically materialize out of the sidewalk and do a fine berserker impression as thanks for the reference.

Botan giggled. "You're so paranoid. When will everyone be gone, do you think?"

Yusuke consulted his watch. "It is _not_ three in the afternoon!" he snapped at it. "Piece of junk," he added, tearing it off his wrist and firing it into the nearest trash can. "Oh I'm good," he added.

"Well, near-death experiences and the like _will_ alter your electromagnetic field enough that wearing things like watches becomes impossible," Botan pointed out.

"I'm a walking near-death experience," Yusuke announced proudly.

"Dolt," Keiko contributed, joining the small group. "What's up?"

"Botan wants to pay her condolences, but it might be a good idea for her to wait a bit. She's a little noticeable," Yusuke fabricated.

Botan cast a sulky glance at her clothes. True, it was an old-fashioned kimono, but _honestly_. It was black silk. Really not that out of the ordinary._ Just like a man, to pick on clothing as a reason to hide. Idiot._

"We'll be moving along now," Shizuru announced. "Kazuma still has a lot of questions that he would be unwise to try and answer now."

Yusuke considered what would happen if Kuwabara confronted Hiei or Kurama. Hiei would stare at Kuwabara, then run him through and get blood all over the clothes Yusuke had loaned him. Kurama would probably laugh. Then again, given Kurama's current state, he'd laugh himself into hysterics, lock himself in the closet, take a four-hour shower, then drink ten cups of coffee to take his mind off the issue at hand. And_ then_ Hiei would pop up and run Kuwabara through and complain that it was because he made Kurama all whiny.

Scary, how he could figure out their minds like that.

Then again, Hiei's mind was pretty damn straightforward.

Perhaps he'd better have a talk with Kuwabara.

"Look, I'm not going to wait any more," Botan spoke up. "I need to get back. I have to go talk to Kurama and then I have to go. Koenma-sama just paged me."

"You have a pager?" Yusuke demanded.

Botan put her fists on her silk-clad hips and glowered at him. "As it were. Now _if_ you'll excuse me, I have emotional news to impart, followed by a human interrogation."

"No need to get huffy. All in good time."

Yusuke, Keiko, and Botan all spun to behold a black-haired girl still in her school uniform watching them. "Oyumada Yoshiko," she introduced herself. "You want to see...Kurama-kun?" she asked, lingering over the redhead's name. "Best do it soon. His fanclub will be back in..." Here she looked at her watch. "Hmm. Seven minutes and twenty-two seconds. Let us be off."

"Fanclub?" Yusuke demanded.

"Yes," Yoshiko replied. "You see, someone has to beat the girls off of him with a stick. I happen to be that someone," she added with a quick, mirthless smile.

"And they listen to you?" Keiko asked.

"If they want to get near Minamino Shuuichi, they do," Yoshiko replied. "I do _all_ their scheduling."

"That's a bit sinister," Yusuke said thoughtfully.

"It works," Yoshiko said with a shrug. "I act as his publicity agent of sorts."

"Are you for hire?" Keiko asked.

"Interesting question," Yoshiko replied, looking over at Yusuke.

"Keiko? What's going on here?" Yusuke demanded suspiciously.

"Nothing."

"Keikooooo! _Tell_ meeeeee!"

"You," Yoshiko said, appearing at Botan's side. "Let's go. We have less than five minutes now."

"Ah...Oyumada?" Botan asked.

"Yoshi. Please," Yoshiko corrected. "Yes?"

"How...how long have you known Kur – Shuuichi?" Botan asked slowly.

"Since junior high," Yoshiko said. "He didn't really start picking up girls until high school, though. You?"

Botan figured that the truth would not exactly be prudent and opted for a bit of a deception. "I work for a private detective agency. I'm an errand girl, more or less. My boss is a friend of the family and has agreed to help the family – namely, Shuuichi – in any way possible. He has managed to obtain a meeting with the...the man who did it. He thinks perhaps he will be able to discover something to give...to give everyone involved some peace of mind. He wanted to tell Shuuichi himself, but he had to leave earlier for another...another case? Case. Yes. The interrogation will be taking place quite soon, so I need to just pop in and talk to Shuuichi for a second, then I've got to dash."

Well, maybe the lie didn't have to be that elaborate, but it was rather close to the truth. Sort of.

"Kurama-kun?" Yoshiko slid the door to the side and gingerly peered around it. She recoiled sharply, then tentatively returned to her former position. "Kurama-kun? There's a young lady here to see you from a...detective agency?"

"What the hell?" Hiei demanded from inside the room.

Botan felt it was necessary at that time to save Yoshiko from being dismembered and strode into the room. "Eeeep," she squeaked when a sword swung up to hover in her face.

"Kurama-kun, I have to go home," Yoshiko said from her partial hiding place. "I'll see you in school." The door slid shut with a thump.

"Sorry for scaring her," Botan said meekly. Hiei rolled his eyes and seemed to be biting back laughter. "She's started calling you Kurama, you know."

"You have news?" Kurama asked, staring at the floor.

Botan examined the pair of them. Kurama was sitting on a low table with his elbows propped on his knees, his head in his hands. Hiei sat leaning against the table not an inch from Kurama's left leg, his sword held out across Kurama's body to point at Botan.

"Put the sword down and listen to me," she said, taking a deep breath. _Best to get it over with now. I have things to do, cruel as it seems._ "Kurama. Are you paying attention?"

Kurama slowly looked up, then gently pushed the sword to the floor. "Yes." Hiei simply glowered.

"The human has been borrowed for interrogation," Botan told them. "Koenma-sama suspects demon connections behind that gang. He doesn't think that your mother's death was random."

"So who's gonna interrogate the ningen, you?" Hiei sneered.

Botan closed her eyes. "After I leave here, I'm to bring Aven Vincent to the interrogation room with the human." She opened her eyes to behold Kurama frozen in place, with Hiei watching her again with an odd kind of respect from his now-bloodless face. "I take it you two both know Aven Vincent."

Kurama nodded jerkily. Hiei looked away sharply and tightened his grip on his sword. "So you're taking this seriously."

"The man tortured the innocent human mother of one of our agents. We're taking this very seriously," Botan said coolly. "Now if you'll excuse me, our interrogator doesn't like to be kept waiting. Ta, now." She snapped her fingers and vanished on the spot.

"Show-off," Hiei muttered.

Kurama whistled through his teeth, still partially frozen. "Aven Vincent..."

Hiei stuck his sword into the ground and looked up at the redhead. "What'd he do to you?"

"When I didn't cooperate...he tore my ears off. Not cut. _Tore_." Kurama shuddered. "To start."

Hiei settled slightly closer to Kurama. Which translated to leaning both on the table and on Kurama. "Stay out of the Makai while he's around."

"A demon gang," Kurama burst out. "Murderers for hire. Mutilation. Aven Vincent. Oh, Inari..." He dropped his head back into his hands.

Hiei glanced over his shoulder at the window. Rain was splattering along the glass again.

He swiveled back to his former position and stared at the flat of his sword, lost to memories.

* * *

Fluffy: La. Be happy with the speculation. HAPPY! This will not be a fic where everyone ignores the obvious. Not even Kuwabara. The only people who get to ignore the obvious are the demons. And maybe not even them. Mwa ha ha ha. Ha. Ha.

**HieilovesBotan:** Heh. Thanks. blush

**Higashikaze:** Won't be the last time you see it, either. Mwa ha ha ha.

**SweetMisery:** Indeed I did.

**Henrika:** Huh. I got Atsoko from Shounen Jump. goes and beats on the Shounen Jump people Yusuke smokes...well, always. Again, got that from the manga. I only have one DVD and a ton of manga. ;;

**Silverchild of the winds:** Don't worry, Botan's a major character in the rest of this. Very major. She'll pop in and out for a bit, then will return to stay with the rest of Team Urameshi. Can't very well neglect them, can I? Oh, and the title...that's a secret, for the time being.

**Liviania:** There'll be more of them, too. Wait a few chapters. There's even an almost-meaningful shower scene! Gasp!

**Psychopathic Sixth Grader:** Hee. That one's fun because it's so....oxymoronish. I like it. ;;

Duel: Hi. You know me. Or maybe you don't. But if you don't review...we'll meet again. And now on pleasant terms. :E)


	7. The Taste Of Goodbye

Fate: Tee hee. We may draw a picture of Aven Vincent, because he's pretty nifty-looking. We'll get back to you on that one.

Disclaimer: We have dibs on Aven Vincent, because we want him. But everyone else belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi-sama.

* * *

"Now listen well, Aven Vincent. You may _not_ harm this human." Botan rolled her eyes to the ceiling as Koenma continued. "In case we are wrong, we have to return this human in one piece."

"And if we're right?" It was a purring, persuasive voice that Aven Vincent had. It suited their interrogator's dark looks. Blue-black skin, dark purple hair, empty white eyes, and a lime green tongue behind rows of sharp teeth. "Then what, sir?"

"Then continue as usual," Koenma answered. "Botan!"

"Yes?" The blue-haired girl jumped to attention.

"You will attend the interrogation, as we discussed," Koenma began.

"Wait a minute!" Aven Vincent looked speculatively at Botan. "I've got an audience?"

Botan glowered at him.

"You're kidding, right?" Aven Vincent asked Koenma. "Seriously. She's wearing_ pink._"

"I was wearing black before I got here," Botan retorted.

"Her hair is_ blue._" Aven Vincent threw his clawed hands into the air. "How am I supposed to look threatening with her in the room?"

"I think you'll manage," Koenma replied. "Being as it's a human and all. Now go."

"But – "

"Just_ go_ already!"

"Fine, fine, fine." Aven Vincent stomped from the room, elbowing the oni aside. Botan shot one last look at Koenma, then ran after him.

"Now look. Don't talk, don't move, don't do_ anything,_ and above all, don't interrupt if I'm getting somewhere," Aven Vincent snapped.

Botan clutched her oar tighter. "Rightyoh."

"'Rightyoh'?!"

"Uh huh."

"Ye gods and little fishes!" Aven Vincent smacked himself on the forehead, then stopped by a locked and guarded door. "Now absolutely do not talk." He glanced at her, noted her affirmative nod, and glared at the guards. "Open up."

Botan took a deep breath and fished her notepad out from inside her kimono as the door swung open.

She'd seen the man before, but certainly not strung up by his wrists from a set of manacles. She slunk into the room after Aven Vincent and slipped into the farthest corner, trying not to step in pools of unidentified ickyness.

"So what's your name, ningen?" Aven Vincent sneered.

The man stared blankly at the shadowy demon, then looked at her. Botan looked back expressionlessly._ You murdered an innocent woman._ She stuffed her anger down, storing it for later use, and waited for Aven Vincent to get annoyed.

It didn't take long.

"All right, ningen. We're going to get something straight right now," Aven Vincent purred. He grabbed the man's face in both clawed hands and pulled it forward so that they were almost nose to nose. "You're going to answer my questions, or you're going to be in little pieces on the floor." He licked his lips. "Don't look at the girl in the corner, dammit!" He slammed the human back against the wall. "You're looking at her for help, aren't you? Do you know what that girl is?"

"De...mon," the man whispered.

Aven Vincent laughed. "Heh. You're wrong, human. She's the angel of death. She's here to take your_ soul_ away if I should accidentally_ do away with you_ in the course of interrogation. So play nice for me, ningen._ What's your name?"_

[-]

Hiei was woken from his almost-sleep state by a small vine twirling up his arm and around his neck. "Kitsune."

"Mmm?"

"Are you trying to kill me?"

Kurama turned and blinked at him. "Oh. Oh dear. I think she likes you."

"She?" Hiei looked even more confused.

Kurama rectified this perplexity by holding out a small rose plant for Hiei's examination. "She calms me."

"Hn." Hiei glanced around to see tendrils extending all around the area. "So I see. Did all the humans go away?"

"No," Kurama replied. "But most of them have gone, I think."

"I don't suppose you could get this plant to stop strangling me, could you?" Hiei inquired.

Kurama looked intently at the rosebush in his hands. "Hmm. I'm trying. She really does like you."

The door slid open. "I can't imagine why."

Kurama and Hiei both whipped around to behold Botan. The ferry girl was back in her pink kimono, but it was so smeared with grime, blood, and other noxious substances that it was nearly brown. She looked somewhere between exhausted and horrified.

"What happened?" Kurama asked.

"I'm taking notes for Aven Vincent," Botan replied, raking a hand through her bangs and rubbing at her eyes. "He started getting really pissed off, so Koenma made us take a break before he tore the human limb from limb. We're supposed to practice some restraint until we get confirmation that he's involved with demons."

"How nice," Hiei muttered.

"Anyway, one of the things I was supposed to do on my break was, um," Botan broke off and stared at the floor. "Collect Shiori."

Kurama's head snapped up. "_What?"_

"Your mother is ready to go on," Botan said gently. "It wouldn't be fair to keep her here." She held out one hand. "Come with me. We'll go together."

Kurama dazedly rose to his feet, putting the plant in his hands on the tatami. "All right," he finally said. "I'll go."

Botan nodded. "Very well." She produced her oar and plopped herself on the handle, then pushed Kurama down next to her. "Hold on." She wheeled and then sent the oar soaring out through one of the walls.

Hiei sulked briefly at being abandoned in a foreign human house. He then stood up, disentangled himself from the rosebush, grabbed his sword, and stormed out of the room.

"Hiei!" Yusuke waved at him. "Where's Kurama?"

"Went with the ferry girl," Hiei supplied.

"We're going," Yusuke announced, gesturing at Keiko and then to himself. "You wanna crash in Kurama's room? It's raining and all."

Hiei raised his eyebrows. "Hn."

"All right," Yusuke answered cheerfully. "Let's get out of here." He looped arms with Keiko and towed her down the street. Hiei glanced at them, then stuck his katana through his belt loop again and hopped into a tree.

Why should he walk around on the ground like a ningen anyway?

[-]

"Here we are," Botan said, touching down on Kurama's porch. The redhead slid off the oar and wobbled a bit before regaining his balance.

"Well, well," a soft voice spoke up. "So many things you never notice while you're alive come to light when you've died."

Kurama spun, the blood draining from his face. "Okaasan."

"Shuuichi," Shiori said. "So many things you never told me."

"I..." Kurama bit his lip hard, trying to come up with a coherent reply. "I didn't know how."

"It's all right, my Shuuichi," Shiori stepped closer and laid a hand on Kurama's shoulder, her insubstantial touch like air. "It didn't change you at all, little demon."

Kurama stiffened. "I...I'm sorry. For taking your child..."

"I don't regret it," Shiori said gently. "I would not trade _you_ for any human child in the world." She looked over at Botan, then back at Kurama. "Believe me."

Kurama nodded jerkily. "I...I believe you."

Shiori smiled and kissed Kurama's forehead. "Take care, my lovely, wonderful son. I will miss you...very much."

"Mummy..." Kurama blinked rapidly, then returned the smile. "I'll miss you. I'll _visit._"

"Can you do that?" Shiori asked.

"He can," Botan spoke up. "With the permission of someone in power to open the gates."

"Then make sure you visit," Shiori ordered, tapping Kurama's nose as best she could. "I love you, my own little demon."

"And I...love you." Kurama blurted.

"Goodbye," Shiori said, stepping back and sitting on the oar proffered by Botan.

"Bye," Kurama breathed as Botan lifted off and soared away with her passenger.

The redhead stood there for a long minute, then ducked under the crime tape and strode off down the street, the rain slicking his hair to his shoulders.

[-]

"You want coffee?" Yusuke asked when Hiei strolled in the door a few hours later, exuding nonchalance and dripping water all over the floor.

"Meh."

"Here." Hiei took the proffered mug, examined it, downed it quickly, and stalked into the back room without a word.

"God, he's creepy," Keiko announced.

"He's a lot of fun in the Makai," Yusuke replied. "Killing demons left and right, doing his weird little thing, beating up on Kuwabara from time to time, yelling at people, throwing things, being treacherous and violent, you know. It's all good."

Keiko glared at him. "You keep the strangest company."

The door at the end of the hall slammed open. "I heard that." Slam.

Yusuke snatched a cigarette from Atsoko's pack. "See what I mean?"

Atsoko woke up and blinked. "Huh?"

"Hiei, Kurama, and Keiko are all staying over again," Yusuke announced. "Hey, maybe I should invite Kuwabara!"

Slam. Yusuke could feel the demonic glare from down the hallway and through a couple walls. "Or maybe I won't. Jeez, Hiei, you really _do_ have the Evil Eye."

"Hn." Slam.

"Well," Keiko said in the silence that followed. "And since when am I staying over?"

"Since you don't trust me or Mum to take care of Kurama," Yusuke retorted. "Don't bother!" he yelled to Hiei.

Keiko facepalmed.

Someone rapped lightly on the door.

Yusuke hastened over, lighting his cigarette at last as he did so, and glanced out the window. He nearly bit his cigarette in half in shock. "Kurama!"

"What?" Keiko demanded, sitting up straight on the couch.

"He looks like hell," Yusuke said, sounding awed.

"Dolt! Let him in!" Keiko yelled.

"Oh. Right." Yusuke flung the door open to behold a drenched and dead-white Kurama. "Hey," he added ineffectually.

"Hello," Kurama whispered.

"You want coffee?" Yusuke asked, pulling the redhead into the front room.

"Sure," Kurama replied numbly.

Slam. Yusuke again could feel the force of Hiei's eyes. Or eye. He wasn't really sure which. "Kurama's back!" he yelled for Hiei's benefit.

"Hn."

No slam yet. Yusuke found this encouraging. "You want more coffee?"

The sound of rushing air answered him.

Yusuke handed over two more cups of coffee, then busied himself with pouring out more for the remaining three people in the room. "So. Anything special anyone want to watch on TV?"

"You have _homework_, Yusuke," Keiko scolded.

"What about it?" Yusuke retorted.

"You should _do_ it."

"I don't see you doing any homework."

"That's because mine is already done!"

"You're crazy!"

Hiei shot a longing glance at his sword, then at the coffeepot.

"Excuse me," Kurama muttered, pushing away from the table and disappearing into the back room, leaving a trail of water after him.

"It must be pouring out there," Keiko said thoughtfully. "How are you so dry?" she inquired of Hiei.

Hiei very deliberately reached out, took a cigarette from the much-abused pack, and blew on the end. He tossed the lit cigarette to Keiko, then went back to glowering at the empty cup in front of him.

"Hmm," Yusuke said thoughtfully. He went over to a closet and retrieved a bundle of clothes. "Catch these. Not with a sword, not with your head, not with fire or anything, but in the normal fashion. _You_ may be dry, but your clothes are wet, and Kurama is definitely soaked." He tossed the bundle at Hiei, who caught them sulkily and disappeared in a blur of black.

[-]

"You're supposed to be drying off, not getting wetter."

Kurama swiped one hand under his eyes and looked up at Hiei from under sopping bangs. "I know."

Hiei dropped one set of clothes on Kurama's head, then unstuck his sword from the jeans. His finesse with fire ran to keeping his hair dry and burning things to ashes instantaneously. Therefore dry clothes, while not a necessity, weren't a bad thing either.

Katana out of the way, Hiei finally wrestled himself out of the scary "SAVES THE DAY!" shirt, only to find that the replacement had "Z0B13Z!" scrawled across the front in bright green. He needed to have a talk with Yusuke, either about recovering his normal clothes or about getting something_ else_ to wear.

He was still staring at the black and green..._thing..._when he heard an ominous muffled sob behind him.

Hiei whirled to behold Kurama toying with a rather nasty-looking thorny vine and wiping at his eyes almost nonstop.

"Fox?" Hiei folded his arms and stared down at Kurama.

"Come here for a minute," Kurama said without looking up.

Hiei crouched next to the other demon and stared at him inquisitively. "Yea – oof!" He glanced sideways at Kurama, who had decided to use him as a squeezy-toy of sorts. "Er."

"Do you mind?" Kurama asked.

Hiei thought about it and figured that if he minded, he'd have stabbed Kurama by now. "Hn."

"Okay." Sniffle.

After a few minutes of sitting thus in relative silence, Kurama glanced over at the door. "Oh." He released Hiei quickly and snatched up the piece of paper that had been slipped in. "The police are done with my house and are under the impression that I'm an emancipated minor and can live in the house on my own as willed to me by my mother, since she died before her marriage, and do I want to go to school tomorrow?" Sigh. "I haven't got my uniform or anything."

Hiei had by then finished swapping clothes. "I'll get it." He picked up his sword, glanced at Kurama, then slid the window open and jumped out.

Kurama half-smiled and flopped back onto the futon, grabbing the nearest towel and draping it over his head. _Something tells me I embarrassed him._ His half-smile turned into a full-out smirk. _Or did I...?_

_Heh._ _Now _this_ could certainly distract me from everything else._

He rolled over and started rubbing at his hair, sending water droplets everywhere. _But should I? I wonder. My mother knows I'm a demon now, and I have the house to myself, now that she's...she's...anyway, why shouldn't I be a youko?_ Kurama tossed the towel aside and began finger-combing his hair out. _It feels wrong...but right._ The red-haired demon sighed impatiently. "Bloody hell," he whispered. "This is going to be complicated."

* * *

Fluffy: La. What, you didn't think Kurama would stay a snivelling human the entire time, now, did you?

**HieiLovesBotan: **That was me poking fun at random incoherent fans. "OMG OMG DID YOU SEE THE _EYES?!_" flails Fear not, I'll go back to normal someday.

**Henrika:** We all devoutly either ignore or embroider upon the 'good friends' bit. I personally prefer to embroider rather than ignore. Besides...Kurama's a youko at heart, and we _all_ know just how celibate youko are. Hee. I'm just assuming Kurama's been nabbed on and off for a while. Oh, and Yoshiko? She definitely has a point. Mwaha.

**ExtremelyEvilKitty:** Mweep! runs screaming to hide behind her 'fluff-filled hikari of DOOM!!' Points to anyone who gets the reference.

**Kerei Kitsune: **Thanks, and yes! D

**SweetMisery:** proffers Kurama

Duel: Fwee! REVIEW FOR MEEEEE!


	8. The Sight Of Change

Fate: Buh. Tired. Buh.

Disclaimer: Meep.

* * *

**[the sight of change]**

Kurama didn't have long to mull over these new revelations. He'd roughly gotten to his third repetition of _well, I _am_ a youko, and it's not like we're _celibate, _and he's a demon _too, _so it's not like –_

His thoughts were, as indicated, cut off by a large pile of clothes and books. Which were dropped on his head. Three guesses on who just got back, and the first two don't count.

"Mmmph. Nice to see you too, Hiei."

"Hn."

Kurama considered asking Hiei if he'd ever heard of the concept of just _handing_ someone something. He then rethought it, discarded it as a stupid question, and settled for lightly sulking whilst trying to organize what seemed to be a quarter of his bedroom into a small pile.

"That's a lost cause," Hiei commented from across the room.

Kurama rolled his eyes and kept working. Hiei was, after all, a severe pessimist. Besides, this way he could go back to his somewhat panic-stricken mental reasoning.

Hiei observed that he was being ignored. He then flopped onto the futon and settled in for a light sulk as well. _Ignore me _now,_ will you?_

In retrospect, maybe this wasn't the brightest idea. But it did get points for being cataclysmic.

Kurama very deliberately stopped fussing with his clothes and wound down his fifth repetition of his mental litany. "Did you want something?"

Hiei blinked. Usually this tactic didn't exactly work like this. "...hn."

"Hm. Very well then," Kurama replied, and with careful control, returned to his pile.

You can all let your breath out now.

Hiei rolled his eyes at the ceiling. "Why is _that_ so important?" he finally managed.

"This? Oh. It's distracting me," Kurama explained.

Hiei propped himself up on one elbow. "You don't look distracted."

Kurama raised one eyebrow briefly, then smiled. "Oh, believe me, I'm _very_ distracted."

"By Introductory Chemistry: A Foundation?" Hiei read slowly from the book Kurama had just set down.

"Actually, by you," Kurama said blandly, that ever-so-slightly odd smile still on his face. "Come over here for a tick."

Hiei gave Kurama a thorough once-over. He certainly looked much less deranged and/or wibbly than he'd been in the past twenty-four hours. So he promptly swung his legs over and sat up. "...?"

Kurama's smile wandered somewhere into the region of a smirk. Hiei had about two seconds to register this before Kurama kissed him. Hard.

Now. I'm sure you've all had similar moments. For example, those times when the elevator you're in teeters on the edge of plummeting, when your car stalls in the middle of a 100-km-per-hour speedway, when the thing in the 'object is closer than appears' mirror is not only close but dangerous, or when you're being pushed back on a futon by a redheaded youko with a devastating smirk and a knack for tonsil hockey. You know. Those _ooohshit_ moments.

Hiei seems to be having one. Funny how those things work.

After thirty quite enjoyable seconds, Kurama finally pulled back. "You haven't lopped my head off yet," he said after a long, long pause.

"No," Hiei agreed.

"Would that be a signal that I ought to try again?"

Hiei considered this. "Hn."

Kurama's eyes lit up.

Meanwhile in the hallway, Yusuke was torn between swearing never, _ever_ to look through keyholes again and rejoicing that he really _was_ right about the way Kurama stood.

[-]

"This is a ruddy bad idea," Kurama announced after five minutes.

"Why?" Hiei demanded. "Not the fucking Forbidden Child thing _again!"_

Kurama blinked. "That wasn't it."

"Then _what?"_

"Er. You know. This is just a bad, _bad_ idea."

Hiei thought about it. Hooking up with youko had never been exactly a safe thing to do. And youko tended to be damn possessive of their...er...toys. So walking out on a bad relationship really wasn't much of an option. The term relationship is used loosely, of course. Fuckbuddy might be more like it.

However, this was _Kurama._ Human ideals or not, he was definitely acting like a youko right about now. Which might become problematic if he decided to suddenly go back to pretending he was a human at heart. For one thing, it sort of knocked the promise of getting really good sex for once in Hiei's rather unpopulated life Right Out.

Hiei gave Kurama a long, thoughtful look, Jagan and all. "If you're worried about this, then it probably _is_ a bad idea."

Kurama nearly pulled a full, classic double-take at this wholly uncharacteristic remark. "_Excuse me?"_

"I have no intention of being a youko toy or a human's mate," Hiei said simply.

"And if I prefer that you not be either?" Kurama asked softly.

"..."

Yusuke decided that this would be an opportune moment to hammer on the door before things got even _more_ uncomfortable in there and proved his theory totally wrong. "Oi, oi, either of you want more coffee or anything? Keiko's ordering out for dinner, we should have food in half an hour or so. You didn't get a lot to eat, did you, Kurama?" he asked, poking his head around the now-opened door.

The events of the day all came rushing back in painful clarity and surround sound to the still somewhat dazed redhead. "Oh. No, I didn't. I can pay..."

Yusuke waved it off. "Nah, don't worry about it. We've got it covered. So. Coffee?"

"Please. Lots," Kurama added.

"It's in the percowhatsit. Come and get it at your leisure," Yusuke said, snapping a haphazard salute. "Have fun." With that cryptic remark, the door slammed after him.

"Humans," Hiei said expressively, then went to go get coffee before things got too complicated.

[-]

Kurama flopped facedown on the futon and grabbed a fistful of hair in each hand, tugging at it in a vain effort at distracting himself. Again. _Argh. I didn't mean for that to happen. No, really. I didn't. Not like that, anyways. Now he's going to...well, I don't know. Probably shrug it off as a youko thing and never consider that I might have done it because I liked him and not because I'm a demon inside with a penchant for sex, illusions, and plants. _One fist slammed down on the futon. _Dammit dammit dammit! Why did everything have to happen...today..._

Flinging himself upright, he scooted off of the futon, cleared a small corner for himself, and huddled into a miserable ball near the recently exorcised Closet of Doom. _I think I hate my life right about now._

A short time after that, he managed to fall into a deathlike sleep that defied Yusuke's howl that the food had arrived, Atsoko's tripping over the coffee table and landing in the beer cooler, the TV blasting out three cop shows in rapid-fire succession, Hiei's retreat into Yusuke's room with a longing look at the rain-pelted window and much slamming of doors, and finally Keiko and Yusuke having a minor scuffle-slash-snog right outside the door.

Lucky sod.

[-]

Poke. "Wake up."

"Mrr?" Kurama blinked.

Poke. "Yusuke's squeaky bint said to wake you up." Poke. "And she won't leave me alone until I do." Poke. "And I can't kill her or Yusuke will make life annoying for me until I kill him, and that would be a lot of wasted effort over nothing." Poke. "Are you awake yet?"

Kurama blinked again. "Did you just make a speech?"

"Hn." Hiei promptly returned to the recently exorcised closet, having staked it out as the best place to be until the damn rain let up.

_Awake. Not home. Awake...school!_ Kurama blinked again, this time in trepidation, then grabbed his uniform and bolted for the shower.

[-]

"Shuuichi-kun! Ohayou! I didn't think you'd be here today."

"Yoshi-chan," Kurama said, rubbing at his eyes. "Where's the...uh. Crowd?" he finally finished.

"Told to bugger off so help me god or I'll murder them barehanded." Yoshiko nodded in satisfaction.

"And Yomuru listened?" Kurama replied.

"Someone's pissy." Yoshiko quietly fell into step beside him with practiced ease. "How was the homework?"

"Not too bad." Kurama sighed and raked one hand through his hair, which was still somewhat wet and tangled. "I'm sorry, Yosh'."

"What for?" Yoshiko stopped on cue and glanced up at him, hugging her books to her chest.

"Something along the lines of me being a royal ass?" Kurama inquired.

"I could make many, many replies to that comment. I'm not even going to try and work out a response that wouldn't terrify you into an early grave. Shall we change the subject again?"

"Sure," Kurama agreed tiredly, setting off again for class.

"Okay. How's your boyfriend?"

Kurama froze again. "Yo-_shi!"_

"Yes?" Yoshiko sighed. "I can't do the fluttering eyelashes thing. Pretend I'm a fangirl and can flutter eyelashes innocently and continue."

"He's _not_ my boyfriend. _Really._"

Yoshiko folded her arms and started walking again. "Hmm. I'm not convinced. Are you convinced? You don't sound convinced."

"...fine. We made out last night. Doesn't mean he's my boyfriend." Kurama was now staring fixedly at the floor with his hair covering his face as best he could manage. "It _doesn't._ He's not _like_ that. And neither am I," he added.

"I'm well aware," Yoshiko said coolly. "I am your publicity agent."

"You make it sound so sinister," Kurama muttered.

"It _is_ sinister and you _should_ be afraid," Yoshiko said severely. "Now. Do you want help with Hiei?"

Kurama thought about it for a long, long moment. "Yes."

"All right." Yoshiko fell silent for a long moment. "Kurama?"

Kurama glanced over. "Hmm?" Then he blinked. "Wait a..."

Yoshiko nodded once. "I think I'm overdue for a long talk, Kurama-kun. You've been so...distant lately. And you _are_ my best friend."

"He _said_ you were calling me that," Kurama muttered. "Yoshi-chan, I'm really, really sorry about all this."

"Apologize later," Yoshiko said with a glance at the clock. "We're going to be late!"

[-]

"_Hang_ on a minute. I think I fell asleep there and dreamed this. You're a sex demon?"

"I am _not!"_

"It would explain so much though."

"I'm _not!"_

"The hair. The eyes. The way you stand."

"What's wrong with the way I stand?"

"The general attitude of both being sex appeal on legs and yet innocent."

"I'm _not,_ I tell you!"

"The complete lack of being disturbed that you are the object of most girls' fantasies in this school."

"_Yoshiiiiii!"_

"You say something?"

Yoshiko and Kurama were both sitting outside for lunch. Or, rather, sitting well out of range of all other students and having a heated conversation while everyone else had lunch.

"You believe me?" Kurama finally managed.

"What earthly reason have you got to run around saying you're a demon if you're not?" Yoshiko threw her hands into the air. "It just complicates matters. You're not that sort."

"Then why did I tell you at all?" Kurama wondered.

"Because it applies to Hiei, of course!" Yoshiko gave him her best what-are-you-stupid look. "You're a demon, so he _must_ be one."

Kurama decided that it was a good thing that he hadn't eaten, or he'd definitely have choked by now. "How the – ?"

Yoshiko sighed. "You wouldn't have _told_ me if it wasn't a huge, glaring factor in this. So what's the deal?"

"Demons have a very different way of looking at sex," Kurama said carefully. "Nobody cares about reproduction, or families, or being nice to your mate, or anything. It's more like, 'Hey, I'm bored, let's shag. And then I'll tear your head off if I'm not interested enough to spend five days going at it.' It's a bit hard to explain," Kurama finally ended. "Humans would categorize it as cruelty. Demons don't label things."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind next time I want to boink a demon," Yoshiko retorted. "Sounds to me like if you just wanted sex, you wouldn't be consulting me. You want human advice for a demon problem, don't you?"

"Something like that."

"And why is that? Don't you lot have love?" Yoshiko started playing with her Hello Kitty collar fitfully.

"I guess some do," Kurama finally divulged. "I never really comprehended it until I came here. Hiei's never had it either. Love is...it's another human label that you try to apply to everything, even though you don't know how it...I don't know." Kurama sighed and flopped back against the grass.

"I'm not trying to label it," Yoshiko said. "You don't want him just for shags, which goes against everything you've ever known until now, and you automatically give it a human quality just because you found it while you were in a human body. Yes?"

"I'm trying to think of demons in love and failing," Kurama groaned.

"Your parents?"

"What parents?" Kurama sat up. "I don't remember them."

"Well, I'm running out of options here," Yoshiko said waspishly.

"Oh." Kurama flopped back onto the grass again. "I just remembered one. Hiei's sister, Yukina."

Yoshiko shot him another what-are-you-stupid look. "Well, that changes _everything!_"

"Yukina loves Kuwabara," Kurama mused. "And Kuwabara loves her. And Yukina is the only person Hiei cares about. I think."

"You think he loves her, or you think she's the only one?" Yoshiko asked.

"He definitely cares. I'm not hedging any bets past that," Kurama replied.

As the bell tolled to summon them all back in from break, Yoshiko grinned. "You can keep your cards close to your chest, but I'm going to play the tables on this one if you don't mind. Let's go."

[-]

Hiei finally woke up when a bell sounded shrilly, followed by the hubbub of a thousand or so humans fleeing from a large building. Well, a thousand or so humans and one demon. Or two or three. There were a couple amorphous sorts whose identities were still somewhat unknown. They're at every school, don'tcha know.

"And you'll take care of yourself?" Hmm. Sounded a bit like the squeaky girl who beat the humans off Kurama with a stick.

"I'll be fine, Yoshi-chan. Really." And that was certainly Kurama. Who else would emit such a ki and yet not be dismembering humans left and right?

"Shuu-shuu-chaaaaaaaaaaan! Can I walk home with yooooooouuuuu?"

"Well, fuck," Girl Who Beat Other Girls Off With A Stick snapped. Hiei glanced down from his perch to see her snap a fan out from what looked like a garter and proceed to give a tiny, bouncing, sparkly haired..._thing_ a sound thrashing about the face. "Shut! Up!"

"But Yoshiiii-sempaaaaiii! I just got my face done just for thiiiiiiis!"

THWACK THWACK THWACK. "Kurama-kun? Run." THWACK THWACK THWACK.

"Bye, Yoshi-chan. Sorry about this."

"Go!"

"Deeeeeeeeeeeeeemo..."

THWACK THWACK THWACK.

As Kurama took off, Hiei started to wonder if the GWBOGOAS might have had some demon blood in her. It would make a lot more sense that way.

"That was impressive."

Kurama tilted his head back and glanced at Hiei. "Yoshi-chan?"

"That girl from the other night," Hiei confirmed.

"You can come down now. I'm sure I look ridiculous talking to a tree, and you _are_ wearing human clothes."

Hiei sighed and dropped to the ground. "Now what do you want?"

Kurama raised one eyebrow. "I got a call from Yusuke," he began slowly.

Hiei kept walking. "...?"

"I can go home. Do you want to see what I'm going to do with it?"

[-]

"Aven Vincent. Take a break," Koenma announced, popping into the cell. "Botan, I need you, right now."

"Yes, sir," Botan rasped, her voice grating along disused vocal cords. She began stumbling through the puddles, no longer caring about the state of her clothes or her skin, but only about getting the next bit of work over and done with. She barely even noticed when she slipped and had to be caught by Aven Vincent.

"Cor," Aven Vincent muttered, hustling her out of the cell. "Don't faint on me. I hate it when people faint on me. Didn't anyone tell you not to sit down? You look a mess. If you're going to hover about, you need to look better. You're going to die on me, aren't you? I hate it when people die on me!"

"Let...go," Botan mumbled, struggling in the direction of the office. "I have to...go see..."

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your knickers in a twist, we're going," Aven Vincent retorted. "If I leave you here, Koenma-sama will be all annoyed and I won't get to finish with my human. So let's go."

The interrogator managed to haul the half-unconscious girl into Koenma's office and get her more or less propped upright against one clawed hand. "Reporting, sir! The human – "

Koenma looked up from where he was standing on the desk. "You're going back in there by yourself from now on," he broke in. "I need Botan, and I need my Team Urameshi. We've just picked apart the source of that vigilante ring, and we got there from some ningenkai contacts."

Botan blinked hazily. "But a demon vigilante using humans? I thought we ruled that out?"

"Using them, we ruled out. But recruiting them...we never thought about," Koenma said with a heavy sigh, flopping onto the desk. "And recruiting them he is. Aven Vincent?"

"Yeah?"

"Go in there and start asking about Ramandai the Exterminator. But first get Botan back to her quarters. She's to be fully rested before we move in. We have time."

"Then why are you sending him back in?" George inquired, pointing a claw at Aven Vincent.

"I want to have as much information as possible before I send out my team," Koenma replied. "Aven Vincent, Botan, you may go. I will send for you when I need you."

Botan managed to say, "Ha..." before her voice gave out entirely. Aven Vincent sighed and began hauling her out of the office. As soon as the doors had shut, Koenma turned to his personal oni. "Find everything we've got on Ramandai the Exterminator."

"That one again? But he's not a – "

"Yes, well, he's all we have, and if I don't get this cleared up, my father might not like the idea of having a human in the dungeons so much anymore," Koenma started fretfully.

George sighed and strode off to the filing rooms, one hand pressed to his aching head.

Pity the idea of unions never caught on in the Makai.

* * *

Fluffy: Ar.

**Henrika:** I'm not trying to pressure you. Sorrysorry! And it does.

**HieilovesBotan:** Ah, good.

**Liviania:** XD Wait for it. Waaaait. Evil things are afoot with the showers.

**Kerei Kitsune:** Mhm! That would be the pairing. ducks and waits for thrown things

**Goddess-Shalamar:** I'm glad. grin

**Higashikaze:** Ahh, that part's a secret. And I'm sorry it made you cry!

**Mare Serenitatis:** You're not a bad person! Really! And yes, there is more freedom. You'll see. Soon. Bwahaha.

Duel: Mrrrg.


	9. The Sound Of Fire

Fate: Hiyas! [is in good mood]

Disclaimer: Buh?

* * *

**[the sound of fire]**

"I never liked this table."

"Then why are you making something out of it instead of getting rid of it?"

"Because I'm vengeful like that."

Hiei raised his eyebrows, but didn't comment. He was lounging in the living room with his feet propped up on the television set and his sword tossed across the couch. Kurama was lying on the floor and idly poking at the table leg. Which was now not so much resembling a table as an extraordinarily large jewelweed. [1]

"What're these?" Hiei asked, poking one of the seeds. Which promptly exploded.

"Seeds," Kurama replied vaguely.

"...that's very helpful."

"Mmm." Kurama rolled over and started tossing and catching what looked like a small, bright red jewel. "What rooms do I have left to do?"

"That one in there," Hiei answered, pointing to the kitchen. "And your room."

Kurama kept tossing and catching the seed. "Mmm. I want to do my room last."

"So what about that room?" Hiei gestured with a foot.

"I'm trying to remember which plants I have that like blood," Kurama replied idly. "I can't just fling a handful of seeds in there and say, 'Grow, dammit!'"

"...isn't that what you did in there?" This time the foot pointed to the foyer.

"I hated that foyer," Kurama said succinctly.

"...hn."

Toss. Catch. Toss. Catch.

"Why'd you kiss me?"

Tosscatchfumbledrop. Kurama rolled over again very quickly and propped himself up on his elbows. "What?"

Hiei stared at him. "Well?"

Kurama thought for a few seconds. "I wanted to."

"I'm not planning on being a toy just to make you feel like more of a demon," Hiei answered.

Kurama stared at the floor. "So that's what you think of me, then?" He flopped back over onto his back, recovered the small red thing, and flung it hard at the ceiling. It shattered, sending bright flashes of red everywhere. "I can't say I blame you."

Hiei blinked at the red bits settling all over the room. "What's that?"

"Fireflower." As the red pieces hit the ground, they revealed themselves to be tiny glowing orange-red flowers. "I like them. They smell nice."

Hiei reached over and picked up the nearest one. Which happened to be in Kurama's hair. "They smell like fire," he announced.

Kurama shrugged as well as he could. "I like it."

"Why do you like fireflowers?" Hiei found himself asking. "Don't you do _plants?"_

"They _are_ plants," Kurama retorted.

"...but they're fire."

"Try burning one."

Hiei extracted yet another flower from Kurama's hair and glared at it. Nothing happened. "...the fuck?"

"They won't burn," Kurama said after Hiei had resorted to poking the flower gingerly to see what would happen. "They're fire, but they don't burn."

"Hn." Hiei quietly replaced the two flowers in Kurama's hair. When he took his hand back, a strand of red hair had been caught in his fingers. "Why are you staying here still? With the humans?"

"What do you mean?" Kurama inquired.

Hiei looked impatient. "You want to be a demon again, don't you? All this..." He gestured at the plants curling up around the walls with one hand. "Don't you want to go home, just a little?"

"Hiei..." Kurama shook his head, laughing. "I can't believe you of all people is asking me about _homesickness._"

"Can't you?" Hiei replied.

Kurama gave him a long, considering look from over the ex-table. "I wonder."

"You didn't answer my question," Hiei said after a moment. "Don't you want to go home?"

"I want..." Kurama stopped, then pulled himself up to sit on the couch as well. "I want to go back and steal the greatest treasures in the world out from under their noses," he said softly. "I want to be in love. I want to know what blood tastes like when you've just killed someone again. I want to get into a good university. I want...I _do_ want to go home. I'm just not too sure where home is any more. I'm a Kurama-Shuuichi mix-up these days."

"Are you really?" Hiei wondered.

"Hmm?"

"What's keeping you here?" Hiei finally burst out, sitting up and facing Kurama in one movement. "Why the hell are you staying here? You're not _like_ them! You're _not_ human! And everyone says you're redeemed and recovered and you've gone from being the worst of demons to the best of humans, but _you're not._" Hiei reached over and grabbed Kurama's left hand. Prying it open to reveal the recent cuts from gripping a thorned rose too tightly, he stared up at the redhead. "It's demon blood running through your veins."

"...why are you so angry at me?" Kurama finally replied quizzically.

"Youko! Always so dense!" Hiei rolled his eyes at the ceiling. "_Why_ are you staying _here?"_ he asked, his fingernails digging into Kurama's wrist.

Kurama looked rather thrown. "You've asked me that three times now, and I still don't know."

"It used to be for your human mother. You owed her a debt. I get that. I don't like debts either. Don't you think your debt is paid yet?" Hiei demanded, sounding frustrated.

"No, not really," Kurama answered after a moment of thought. "I don't think I have...yet."

"Hn. Why didn't you just say so?"

"You didn't ask."

"..." Glare.

Kurama burst out laughing. "You'd be Jaganshi Hiei even without this thing," he informed the fire demon, tapping the bandanna.

Hiei flinched away. "I don't trust you near my eyes, kitsune."

"I'm sorry," Kurama said.

"I'd heard," Hiei retorted.

"No, no, you don't understand me," Kurama said impatiently. "I'm not saying I'm sorry for myself for doing something that stupid to you. I'm saying...what _am_ I saying?" Kurama looked vaguely pensive. "You know, an apology really isn't anything more than vocalised self-pity."

"Which would be why I don't," Hiei pointed out.

"Very true. So why are _you_ still here?"

Hiei gave him an odd look. "Why do you think?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking," Kurama explained. "Why are you spending so much time in the Ningenkai?"

Hiei shrugged. "Why not?"

Kurama's eyebrows rose. He then lifted his free hand and waved it around in front of Hiei's face. "Hello? Who are you and what did you do to Hiei?"

"You ask why I'm here as though I were hanging around humans all the time," Hiei retorted. "Do you see me hanging around humans?"

Kurama tapped himself on the chest. "Hi."

"You don't count," Hiei replied dismissively. "Didn't we go over this?"

"Sort of," Kurama replied with a sigh. "But seriously. Why all this sudden interest?"

Hiei looked annoyed. "What, am I not allowed to be around other demons all of a sudden? Or are you going to pull another mood swing into your angsty human phase? Because _then_ I'm leaving."

"Never mind," Kurama said with a sigh. "I think you're missing the point."

"What point is this?" Hiei asked cluelessly. "I hate talking," he added in an undertone."

"Why did you kiss me?" Kurama asked.

Hiei stared. "I was under the impression that you initiated it."

"And I was under the impression that you weren't at all opposed," Kurama shot back.

"Well, what else am I supposed to do?" Hiei burst out. "I've been living a normal life up until now, offing other demons, stealing shit, being avoided and feared, all that stuff. And then _you_ come along."

"Hiei. I'm going to ask you a question. And please, please don't kill me. Just answer it. And don't lie. Please?" Kurama said after a long pause.

"...?"

"Have you ever had sex?"

Hiei turned very white, then just as rapidly turned a brilliant magenta. "_What?!"_

Kurama winced slightly, though whether it was from Hiei's reaction or Hiei's iron hold on his wrist with burning fingers was unknown. "Well?"

"No!" Hiei choked out. "What the _fuck?_"

Kurama looked rather sheepish. "Well...I'm...well, I'm a youko," he said. "It's a bit hard to contemplate, virginity. Even though I haven't gotten any in years," he muttered. "Stupid human morality."

Hiei nearly had a cardiac and died on the spot. "_What_ the...?"

"You asked for a demon Kurama...you got it?" Kurama offered.

"_That wasn't what I meant!"_

"Ow," Kurama said pitifully, tugging at his wrist.

Hiei relaxed his grip somewhat, though the temperature of his fingers didn't go down. "What is _with_ all this asking about sex?"

"I'm not planning to shag you up against a wall right now," Kurama replied instantly. "Don't worry."

Hiei's expression stated clearly that not only had he not considered this, but that he probably wouldn't have minded it if it actually _had_ deigned to happen.

Kurama started looking longingly at Hiei's sword and wondering how many stabs it would take to kill himself. "I've never been like that. I've got...scruples," he finished.

"And I'm the Forbidden Child," Hiei reminded him.

"Do you even know _how_ to have sex?" Kurama asked without thinking. "Ow! _Ow!"_ he screeched when Hiei's eyes went very wide and his Flaming Death Grip (tm) intensified yet again on Kurama's wrist.

"Shut up," Hiei said dispassionately, and kissed him.

"...what was that?" Kurama breathed.

"It shut you up," Hiei said with a shrug.

"Do you think you could burn the skin off my _other_ wrist now?" Kurama inquired politely.

"Hmm?" Hiei finally released Kurama's wrist and turned it over in his fingers. It was wrapped in a burn mark the exact shape of his hand, with bloody welts where he'd been digging his fingernails in. "..."

"I think you need some kind of temperature regulation device," Kurama informed him. "And duck."

Hiei flopped off to the side and narrowly missed being walloped by a large vine that had plunged itself through the wall and was twining itself around Kurama. "What was that for?"

"I need my wrist," Kurama said plaintively. "Therefore healing it would be in my best interest." He broke off a piece of the vine, crushed it easily in his palm, and began rubbing it around his wrist. The burn marks hissed and began retreating in on themselves.

Abruptly there was a loud crashing noise, followed by Kurama vaulting off the couch and skidding into the hallway. "Shit! Shit shit _shit_!"

Hiei sat there and blinked for a second. "What the fuck?"

"Stop moving!" Kurama yelled from the foyer.

Hiei grabbed his sword and hauled arse out of there.

And stared.

And then began laughing his arse off.

...there ought to be a side comment here, but the obvious ones were also the severely traumatising ones.

Yusuke was suspended upside down from the ceiling, Kuwabara was bashing away at the plant that had stuck him to the door, and Botan was beating the life out of some poor bush that was timidly nudging her ankles.

"Stop laughing, you fucking midget!" Kuwabara bellowed. "How'd you get in without going through all this, huh?"

Hiei bit back a snicker. "I _didn't_ go through it." He then continued to corpse with laughter.

Kurama was simply sitting on the floor, his head resting on one palm. "When you're all finished...?"

"Get! It! Away!" Botan shrieked, whacking at the bush yet again.

"If you stop hitting it, it'll run away," Kurama said wearily. "Kuwabara, if you hold still, it'll let you go. Yusuke...erm, try and land on your feet."

THUNK. "Right, that's it, next time anyone ever mentions a kind and gentle Kurama, I am going to _laugh._ Laugh, do you hear me?" Yusuke groaned.

"Hey, it stopped!" Kuwabara exclaimed, taking a step forward. "Ack!" he added when the plant came back for more. "No! Bad plant! Why is it eating my aura?"

"Because that's what it does," Kurama said, still in his rather martyred pose.

Botan had let the poor, abused bush scuttle back into the basement and went over to sit next to Kurama. "The human's still not talking."

"Tear his ears off," Kurama suggested. "Let me tell you, that works wonders. And then his fingernails. And then his teeth. And then start removing his finger and toe bones, one by one, with a piece of rusty metal. And if you're not done _then_ – "

"Someone's holding a grudge," Yusuke grumbled. "Kuwabara, you dolt, stop _moving!"_

"Oh, no, not a grudge," Kurama said. "I'm just personally acquainted with their interrogator. He's worked me over a couple of times myself. That was his latest torture idea with me."

"He hasn't been able to do anything," Botan said tiredly. "He's been heavily restricted. Koenma-sama's put up wards so strong that he can barely touch the human."

"What kind of interrogation is _that_?" Hiei demanded.

"One I'd've liked to have had," Kurama muttered.

"..."

"Look," Botan said decisively. "I've got some news. We've got someone to go after specifically who we think might have gotten the human to...you know."

Kurama whirled around fast enough that even Hiei blinked. "You _what?_ _Who?_ Is it a demon or a human? I'm going to – "

"You're going to get Kuwabara out of those plants, sit down calmly with us, and listen to the information I've got for you," Botan finished.

"Oh, that," Kurama said dully. "Kuwabara, take two steps to your left, then walk forward."

"Huh? What? Okay," Kuwabara agreed. "Woo! How did that work?"

"Oh, come on," Yusuke said, climbing to his feet before Kuwabara tripped over him and hauling the taller redhead into the now-dark living room.

"Where's the light switch?" Kuwabara asked, patting the wall.

"Huh. I didn't notice it was dark," Kurama said vaguely. He stooped down, picked up a handful of fireflower seeds, and hurled them at the far wall. The room burst into murky red light.

"Where'd they come from?" Hiei asked. "Those weren't here."

"The flowers were," Kurama replied. "They form seeds once their light goes out, so they can burst into flame again."

"Hn." Hiei flopped back down onto the couch and propped his feet back up on the TV.

"May I?" Botan asked, glancing at the chair across from them.

"Please." Kurama gestured for everyone to sit, then took the spot between Yusuke and Hiei on the couch. Kuwabara was lounging against the wall behind Botan, who had dropped her oar and was looking directly at Kurama.

"We're going after Ramandai the Exterminator," Botan said simply. "Koenma-sama thinks he's been the one behind a vigilante ring involving both demons and humans. They've been wiping out a lot of the lesser demon criminals...and their clans as well. And they've been moving up. Which may be why he's going after you."

"I'm going to kill him," Kurama said casually. "What else?"

"There really isn't much else," Botan said wryly. "Koenma-sama wants you to go find him and...well, kill him."

Kurama smiled.

Everyone scooted away from the youko a bit. Even Hiei.

"So when are we leaving?" Yusuke asked hastily.

Botan glanced out the window. "Well, Koenma-sama wanted to look up a few more things, so I think you've got a couple hours."

Yusuke heaved a sigh and got to his feet. "I'd better go. Kurama, you got your stuff back from my house? You need anything?"

"Yes and no," Kurama replied. "Thank you, though."

"Right, let's go," Yusuke announced, hauling Kuwabara out of the room.

"Go through the kitchen!" Kurama yelled at their retreating backs.

"Isn't that where – ?" Yusuke called back.

"The plants are on the other way out!"

"Right. Kitchen it is."

Botan picked up her oar and hopped on. "In two hours, then." And she promptly vanished.

Hiei and Kurama shared a long look. "I'm going to kill him," Kurama said softly. "He's going to die slow and die screaming."

Hiei smiled just as widely as Kurama had just a few minutes before.

The moment was promptly broken by Yusuke hissing audibly from outside, "Did you _see?_ Couldn't you _see_ how they look at each other?"

"I can't see that far down."

"Aaagh, _Kuwabara_! Don't you _see_ though?"

"...not really."

"What about the way Kurama stands, huh? You can see _him,_ right?"

"I don't make a habit of staring at Kurama's...uh..."

"But it makes so much sense!" Yusuke wailed, flailing.

Kurama poked his head out the window. "What's wrong with the way I stand?"

"Ack!" Yusuke promptly grabbed Kuwabara and ran hell-for-leather down the road.

Kurama stared at their trail of dust, all previous bloodlust put aside for curiosity. "What the hell is it with everyone and the way I stand?"

* * *

Fluffy: Yes, we're still going on about the way he stands. Check it out sometime. Compare it to Otogi from YGO. Laugh. Oooh, and the [1]? We owe Bear much :3 for randomly coming up with jewelweed. Woot.

**Kerei Kitsune:** Yay indeed!

**Liviania:** O.o;;

**Henrika:** Sorrysorry! Feel free to skip any and all shounen-ai – it won't interfere with the plot if you do. Thanks!

**HieilovesBotan:** [blush] Thank you!

**Higashikaze:** [shrug] The mind boggles?

Duel: Hey, for everyone for whom shounen ai is not thy cup of....preferred beverage, we apologise and hope that it won't interfere with the storyline! And review!


	10. The Touch Of Flesh

Fate: Uh....hi? Yeah. We're back.

Disclaimer: I'm busy watching the Red Sox win. I'm even not doing my not-really-due-anyway homework. Ta now.

* * *

**the touch of flesh**

"You're really taking this demon thing seriously."

"Someone just killed my human mother. I'm feeling a little threatened."

"That's very understandable." Sigh. "I miss her too, you know."

"I thought you might."

"You're quite perceptive. D'you think you could let me down from the ceiling now? I know I was carrying physics books, but I'd think since you requested it, you'd not call it a crime punishable by death."

"Try to land on your – " WHAM " – feet?"

"_Now_ he tells me." Yoshiko sat up amidst a pile of books. "Right then. You want all your homework over the past how many days done in how many hours?"

"Past three days, in school tomorrow?"

"Right you are." Yoshiko hauled out a small black planner and a cell phone from amidst the piles of the books. "I've got five girls who can copy your handwriting flawlessly, plus of course myself. I'll handle the calculus and chemistry. I'm sticking Yomuru with the physics."

"That's cruel," Kurama said appreciatively. "Is this just because she sparkles?"

"She calls you Shuu-Shuu-chan."

"...point taken." Kurama twiddled with one of the book covers as Yoshiko made five quick phone calls. "This is extraordinarily illicit," he finally pointed out.

"I'm supposed to care why?" Yoshiko raised one eyebrow, then went back to her final phone conversation. "Uh huh. All the English. Even the English to Japanese. Yes, I know that's harder. Dearest, you have all night. I'm sorry, _his_ night's just booked solid and I _can't_ let his grades get so out of hand." There was a high-pitched screech from the other end of the line, adding lovely sound effects to Kurama's valiant attempt to grab the phone away from Yoshiko. "Oh, of course it's not _that_, dearest. Now, what could _possibly_ give you that idea?"

Kurama dropped his head into his hands and began muttering about annoying, nosy fire demons who inexplicably vanished and left him alone with his evil scheduling director and lots of physics homework.

A soft beep signified that Yoshiko had just won her argument. "So something tells me you're not going to be in school tomorrow."

"No, probably not," Kurama agreed.

"Why, pray tell?"

"Revenge can take a while, if you're doing it right."

"So it's like that." Yoshiko looked uncomfortable. "You know, sometimes you scare me."

"Only sometimes?" Hiei drawled from the door. "Some demon _you_ are."

"Jesus!" Yoshiko yelped, whirling to her feet and taking an involuntary step back. "You scared the _shit_ out of me!"

Kurama was meanwhile corpsing with laughter. "How much time do I have?" he asked.

Hiei looked completely oblivious to the question.

"Are you trying to look innocent?" Yoshiko demanded, getting to her feet and heading for the window. "I'm going out this way," she added. "Am I going to land on anything nasty?"

Kurama examined the window impassively. "Mmm...how are you with solid pavement?"

"I've fallen off my balcony before," Yoshiko pointed out.

"And blood-sucking plants?"

"Now that could be problematic."

"Might want to go out the kitchen window," Kurama suggested.

"Mmm. Where are you going tonight, anyway?"

"Not the faintest," Kurama replied cheerily. "Right, I want a shower before I'm packed off back home for Inari knows how long."

"You know, I think the reason the girls love you is that they see their narcissism reflected in you," Yoshiko hypothesized. "I'll see you when you get back and all." With this unceremonious statement, she quickly vanished out the kitchen window.

"You keep scaring her," Kurama said woefully, rising to his feet. "I'll be back. If the others show up, at least count to five before telling them to piss off."

Hiei glared at Kurama's back as the redhead tossed his hair and strode out of the room. _This is fucking ridiculous. I am going to fucking scream fucking bloody murder if this doesn't fucking get cleared up. _Hiei considered taking his sword out and hacking the TV into small pieces, but then decided it a waste of a sharpened sword. _I'm not going to be jerked around, dammit! I'm doing nothing I wasn't doing before! Fuck it, I'm being nice putting up with the 'friend' tag. Why am I even being that nice?_

_...well, wait, this doesn't have to count as being nice. This falls neatly under the realm of exploitation of youko partner for sex._

_Except for the whole I'm-the-one-being-exploited bit. Which I find myself allowing. And the whole lack of sex. Which I've never had anyway and have no real reason to start adopting as a pastime. Not to mention that the whole deal seems like it could be really bad on my part. I have no guarantee that I'll be getting anything out of this! Anything!_

Now if only the treacherous little voice in his head that said it liked taking gambles, making out, and generally tried to get him killed would _shut the hell up,_ his logic would be completely infallible.

It also didn't help that the little voice was making lots of suggestions in response to Kurama being in the shower upstairs. In fact, it was driving Hiei very close to the fine line between relatively harmless though lethal Hiei and NAR I BURN THINGS Hiei.

Hiei finally ripped the bandanna off his forehead, incinerated it on the spot, and tossed the ashes aside without a word before storming up the stairs. He then flung himself irritably into Kurama's room, took up residence on the floor, and spent the next two minutes tossing a handful of fire back and forth between his hands as he sulked.

Kurama stuck his head around the door, red hair slicked to his temples and sticking up in the manner of one who hurriedly used a towel to try and get far too much hair dry in far too little time. "Something for you?"

Hiei glared. And it wasn't one of his garden-variety normal glares, either.

"...er. What'd I do?" Kurama ventured.

Hiei went back to playing with fire, looking thoroughly annoyed.

"Oh well," Kurama said airily. "Must not be that important." He wound around the door and somehow managed to end up in the closet. "I honestly can't keep wearing my uniform to these missions," he mused absently. "I keep wrecking them and having to buy more. That, and I think I need to be inconspicuous, and bright purple just isn't that."

Hiei glared at the handful of fire.

"Aaaaand you really don't care," Kurama surmised. "Why am I not surprised?"

Hiei clenched the hand holding the fire closed, but still didn't speak. Surprise surprise.

"You seem to be missing a strip of cloth from your usual attire," Kurama pointed out.

"It burned."

"What," Kurama said, "did I _do?_ No, wait, that obviously involves an explanation. Pity."

Hiei glared again, slamming his anger down hard enough behind his eyes that the now-exposed Jagan kicked in with a vengeance.

"Ow!" Kurama complained, one hand pressed to his forehead. "What'd I _do_ to you?!"

"I need a reason to be unkind?" Hiei inquired.

"To me, _yes!"_

"What makes _you_ so special?" Hiei demanded, shooting to his feet.

Kurama, wincing in pain though he was, managed to look inspired. "Aha."

"_What?"_

"I think you _liiiiiiiike_ me and it's pissing you off. _Ow!_ Are you _ever_ going to turn that thing off?"

"No. Shut up."

"You know, this isn't going to make for much of a partnership," Kurama mused. "I was somewhat hoping for your assistance tonight."

"What, you need me to fight your battles for you?" Hiei sneered.

Kurama shivered suddenly. "I was thinking more along the lines of a diversion. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get dressed before I die of hypothermia."

Hiei promptly buried his face in his hands with a muttered oath. "...stupid fucking exhibitionist sex demon who just can't shut – _what is it now?!_" he demanded, looking up sharply when Kurama tapped him on the head.

"You're the second person today to mistake me for a sex demon," Kurama said thoughtfully, tugging at the waistband of his pants. Which happened to look a lot like leather. "Why is that?"

Hiei replied with an inarticulate noise of frustration. "Be happy with the fact that you are the _only_ living soul on this earth who has annoyed me to this extent and still lives!"

"Ooo, drama," Kurama retorted wickedly.

Hiei flicked his sword out, grabbed it by the end, and sent it end over end into the wall. He then flung himself back against the opposite wall hard enough that both his shoulders cracked before he slid to the ground. And glared some more.

"If I apologise, you'll kill me," Kurama surmised, struggling into a transparent shirt. Sadly, the weather propelled him to start retrieving more layers. "Then again, I should be thankful that you haven't killed me before this."

"I'm not one of your toys," Hiei finally said. If Kurama hadn't known better, he would have identified a sizable note of hurt among the partially restrained anger emanating from the corner.

Kurama looked over at him with a rueful smile. "I'm scared, you know. This is all new to me."

"Wasn't it you explaining how you couldn't imagine being a virgin? Or was that some _other_ daft youko?" Hiei said acidly.

"Let's not talk about sexual prowess," Kurama said, waving it off as he turned back to the closet. "Let's talk about how we've both spent hundreds and hundreds of years being amoral sodding bastards who like killing people and – in my case – boinking anything that moves just for the fun of it. And maybe offing them afterwards for the fun of it again. This whole prior relationship thing puts a nasty new spin on it. And possible continuing relationship, in case it's _that_ good."

Hiei barely even twitched. "You sure it's worth it?"

"Now that's a dangerous question." Kurama turned back to Hiei with the trademark devastating smirk all over his face. "Pity we've only got fifteen minutes or so. Then again – oh dear Inari, you're either going to kiss me or kill me, and I think maybe it's the latter," Kurama said involuntarily as Hiei rose to his feet and stalked over.

"You," Hiei said emotionlessly, "are possibly the most idiotic, dense, and unrealistic youko I've ever met in my _life_. And I did meet Riana."

"You met Riana?" Kurama inquired.

"You just missed the point," Hiei observed, grabbing Kurama's shoulders and jerking the redhead violently forward before kissing him. Hard. "Every time you act that dense, I'm shutting you up like _that_," Hiei added. "Because nothing else _works._"

"That is _not_ incentive for me to act intelligent," Kurama pointed out. Three eyes looked at him. That, and one hell of a ravenous grin. "Or are you about to explain your reasoning and defy all the laws of life?"

"I don't _explain,_" Hiei shot back, before grabbing Kurama's shoulders and kissing him again. "I'm just getting something out of your idiocy."

Kurama put one hand over Hiei's mouth to stop him for a second. "Turn that thing back on," he said, nodding towards the third eye, which was flickering around being half-open.

Hiei blinked, then very slowly complied.

And found himself being kissed. Very hard. With some very emotions that definitely weren't his own pounding at the back of his head.

_Ah. I'm not sure whether he's being intelligent or stupid,_ Hiei thought hazily. _And right now, I'm not at all sure I care._ _Though it would make sense that all his intelligence would be diverted to...why the fuck am I bothering to logically reason this out?_

And that would be the striking difference between Hiei and Kurama, right there.

Meanwhile, Botan flew up to the window, screeched to a halt, and found herself presented with an inadvertent free show.

"My," she remarked to herself, weighing her options. She could just blissfully sit there, gawk a bit, and probably not get killed by two irate demons who didn't seem to have any intention of stopping any time soon, or...she could realize that she was running short on time and Kuwabara was starting to get curious as to why she was just sitting there by the window.

"What's going on up there?" the aforementioned swordsman yelled up.

"Nothing terribly productive," Botan said truthfully, knocking on the window, then yanking her hand back before a vine could snatch it and devour it. "Kurama, your safeguards are _ridiculous!"_ she shouted through the glass.

Hiei stalked over and threw the window up, looking extremely put out. "What _now?"_

"Is he wearing _leather?"_ Botan demanded, craning to look behind the fire demon. "Ooo."

Hiei did not look at all pleased. "When did you get the idea that I _share_ things?"

"When did you start wearing Ningenkai clothing?" Botan asked, putting her hands on her hips and taking a good long look. "Scratch that, when did you start wearing clothing that fit at all?"

Hiei turned and stormed away from the window wordlessly, Jagan shifting restlessly all the while.

"Now you've torn it. He'll sulk for hours," Kurama said with a sigh, climbing over the windowsill. "This is turning out to be very difficult," he added plaintively to Botan.

"Ooo," said Botan wisely. "What'd he need the Jagan for? Did something happen here?" she inquired, her brain finally moving away from cute boys.

Kurama looked vaguely smug. "Ah...well, that depends on what you mean by 'something'."

"Are you wearing leather?" Yusuke called up. "I _knew_ it! I _knew_ something was going on!"

"It was all I had that was relatively dark," Kurama continued, looking slightly perplexed. "Why is everyone making a fuss out of it?"

A loud cracking signified that Hiei had finally wrenched his sword out of the wall. This was followed by said demon partially climbing over Kurama and jumping down to the pavement.

"How did that get stuck in the wall?" Botan asked in a hushed voice.

"I think the original idea was to belt it at me, but I think he changed his mind," Kurama said idly. "I seem to be doing an excellent job of pissing him off today. Far more than usual."

"Want a ride?" Botan found herself offering. It was that or start saying really strange things, like "Squee!" or "W00t!" or "Wai!". Which was confusing in the extreme.

"Don't trouble yourself," Kurama replied, sliding off the windowsill and dropping to the ground.

"Took you long enough," Yusuke said, looking wise.

"My apologies," Kurama told him. "I was trying to find something that would allow me to be a little less conspicuous than I usually am."

Everyone looked at Kurama.

"With the hair, the crazy aura, and the leather pants, I think you could only possibly blend in at a nightclub," Botan said frankly.

Kurama shrugged. "As long as it's a Makai nightclub, I really don't care."

"Did I mention the aura? Definitely a Makai nightclub," Botan confirmed. "Anyway, do any of you have a plan? I figured I'd ask before we go."

"We?" Yusuke asked. "You're coming with us?"

"...er, yes," Botan replied. "Is this an issue?"

Hiei was wearing an expression that clearly said,_ Kill me now._ "You're wearing _pink,_" he added.

"That's what Aven Vincent said," Botan replied serenely. "He took me along anyway." She quietly left out his screaming reluctance, of course.

"I don't know how well we'll be able to protect you," Yusuke said dubiously.

"I'm copping out for battles," Botan answered cheerily. "But something tells me I'm the one with the plan here."

"Plan? We need a plan?" Kuwabara inquired.

There was a long pause as the four boys all looked at each other blankly. "Well, I've said it before, but Yusuke's method is mostly blind luck and bravery that borders on idiocy," Kurama pointed out gently.

"Well then," Botan said decisively. "I'm coming, because _I_ have a plan."

"You know, that might help us a bit," Kurama pointed out.

Yusuke hesitated. "Well, we've never really used a plan before...something might go wrong..."

"Well, we've used small plans," Kuwabara added. "It might work."

"I also have an idea as to where Ramandai is," Botan said apologetically.

"That's it, we're taking her," Kurama decided. "So where is he?"

* * *

Fluffy: We need to re-upload Elusive Illusion, because the ending formatting went...strange. But you should go read it anyway.

**Mare Serenitas:** Aww. That made me happy.

**Liviania:** _I'm_ starting to be obsessed with his stance, just because Yusuke is!

**KuramaKitsuneGirl:** Thanks. grin Thanks for all the reviews!

**Henrika:** The plot unfolds next chapter. This chapter is hopelessly fluffy. But Yoshiko shows up, and she amuses me.

**Crystal Koneko:** Heh. Heh heh heh heh heh...

**Higashikaze:** I do feel bad for the bush.

**SweetMisery:** It's not so much the liking as the continuous relationship....

**Shadow Dragon:** Oh good. grin

* * *

**okay, you get the idea, so keep reviewing! we heart you!**


	11. The Smell Of Truth

I...am on guilt trip over money spending. Have finals on Tuesday. Both of them. Both count for 25 of grade. And yet, I'm WRITING. What is WRONG with me? ::curls up in tiny ball and begins rocking in a corner:: Oh! Ahahaha! I'm missing TRYOUTS too! YayI'mscrewed.

Disclaimer: Go. Away.

* * *

**::the smell of truth::**

"How do you feel about being bait?" Botan asked.

Blink. Blink.

Yusuke and Kuwabara both burst out laughing. Hiei looked mildly pained. Kurama put one finger up and tapped his chest inquisitively.

"Yes, you," Botan snapped, looking vaguely annoyed. "SHUT UP!" she added. Absolutely no one listened. "In case you hadn't noticed, Ramandai is already _looking_ for Kurama!"

"Ahaha...ha...wha...wait, he is?" Yusuke demanded.

Botan dropped her face into her hands, groaned, then looked up again. "We know where Ramandai is. We _know_ he's looking for Kurama. We can guess he's also looking for Hiei. If we dangle them in front of him, then he just might go after them. Well, go after Kurama _again._ Therefore..."

"We're bait," Kurama finished. "Works."

"No, it doesn't," Hiei objected. "I'm not bait."

"Right then, I'll go alone," Kurama decided.

"You will not," Yusuke objected. "Not to be harsh, but look at what he did to you already."

Kurama almost smiled. "All the more reason for me to be on my own, yes?"

"Oh, hush, all of you," Botan said impatiently. "Yusuke can't go with him."

"And why not?" Yusuke demanded, sounding outraged.

"You're...um...well, sort of human-ish," Botan said delicately. "Only sort of, but it's still enough."

"So is he!" Yusuke pointed out, flailing in the direction of Kurama.

"And if you're with him, it really screws up my plan," Botan added.

"Why are we following this plan again?" Kuwabara inquired.

"Look," Botan exploded. "We take Kurama and Hiei to the Makai, leave them to whatever they may do, and shadow them until Ramandai shows up! Then you lot take care of him, I report back to Koenma, and everything gets cleared up!"

A cricket decided to start chirping from afar. Brave little bugger.

"...that was a bit loud, wasn't it?" Botan admitted.

Yusuke picked his jaw up off the ground. "Men, she's a genius," he declared.

"Wait a second," Kuwabara began. "How do we – "

"We'll figure it out later," Yusuke shut him up. "We have something going here."

"But we – "

"_Later!_"

Kuwabara glared, then settled in for a prolonged sulk.

"Question," Kurama advanced.

"Hmm?"

Kurama fixed on his most blinding smile. Hiei looked vaguely annoyed. "I don't suppose you could get Koenma-sama to approve of me acting...oh, say, as though you lot were quite unaware of my actions?"

"You want sanction to steal stuff?" Botan asked suspiciously.

"Erm. Yes?" Kurama tried to look innocent and noble, still smiling in that disturbing fashion.

"...why?"

"Because if I'm acting as a criminal rather than an enforcer of law, he'll be more able to send his people out to get me," Kurama purported. "I mean, I'm sure he's after me because I'm a so-called traitor or some such, but this way speeds things up. _Everyone's_ going to be after me, and he'll want to be first."

"Ooo," Botan said, nodding. "I see. I'll go talk to Koenma-sama, see if we can work out a deal." She promptly hopped aboard her oar and soared up into the sky.

"Now, look, I have a serious question, here!" Kuwabara began.

"Does it have to do with kittens, cute girls, or Kurama's stance?" Yusuke asked suspiciously. Kurama twitched slightly.

"_No, _it does _not!"_ Kuwabara said angrily.

"Oh. It can wait then," Yusuke said dismissively.

"_Urameshiiiiii!"_

"Oh, shut up," Hiei said, leaning against Kurama's house idly.

There was a long silence.

"Fox?"

"Er?"

"If this vine doesn't stop copping a feel, everything within fifty feet is going up in fire. We clear?"

"Sure."

Meanwhile, Kuwabara was busy looking frustrated and muttering to himself. He quietly caught himself in the middle of his muttering, doing a double-take towards Hiei. "Hey. Pyromaniac midget with a vine fetish. Why's your – erk?"

Hiei glared up at him along his sword. "You're addressing who now?"

"You reacted," Kuwabara pointed out. "Why's your – "

"I got it!" Botan sing-songed as she screeched to a halt behind him, cutting the tallest boy off. "You've got your clearance, on _one condition._"

"And that is...?" Kurama demanded, quietly picking the sword out of Kuwabara's jugular and pushing it aside so he could cross between the two combatants.

"If Enma-sama finds out, your death sentence is back on. Both of you."

"How is Enma _not_ supposed to find out?" Hiei demanded, sounding outraged. "And when did _I_ get involved?"

"Koenma-sama will do his best, as will everyone in the lower offices. But if Enma-sama finds out...well..." Botan shuffled a bit. "We could all be executed too, for conspiracy. So we can't guarantee _your_ safety either. Yusuke and Kuwabara might be our executors or killed along with us. Do you have any idea what kind of risk you're taking now?"

Kurama smiled. Botan and Hiei both stared at him slightly oddly. "I like risks."

"Oh lord," Botan muttered. "Anyway, let's be off now."

"What was with the stare?" Yusuke asked Botan as they all shuffled around to get ready for their cross-dimensional trip.

Botan whipped a scroll out of her kimono and dangled it in front of Yusuke's nose. "Read this. And stop wondering where I was keeping that."

Yusuke dragged his mind out of the gutter and opened it to behold two very familiar pictures plastered across a WANTED poster. One of whom had on that exact smile from a few seconds before. "Ah," he said.

"Oh good, you're worried too," Botan said with a sigh.

"Worried? Me? Why worried?" Yusuke asked cluelessly.

"Listen, Urameshi, I still think there's a slight problem. You know that part in the plan where we _yeaaaaagh_!" The transportation between realms cut Kuwabara off before he could finish the sentence.

Poor guy.

-----

"You two are pretty much on your own now," Botan instructed. "Go to it."

Kurama and Hiei glanced at each other, shrugged, then vanished from sight.

"How'd they do that?" Yusuke wondered.

"Can I speak now?" Kuwabara demanded.

"Yeah, sure," Yusuke said idly.

"One: When did the pyro start cooperating? Two: Why the hell did he have his third eye open _until_ we got here? Three: How the _hell_ are we expected to be able to follow them?"

"Oh, hey, where did they go, anyway?" Yusuke asked.

"Oh bugger," Botan muttered. "Come on, boys. Time for a search party."

(meanwhile)

"Where are we going?" Hiei demanded. "Now that we've shaken off the pack of idiots, do you have any thoughts as to what we're going to do?"

Kurama grinned. "To steal stuff. If I'm back, everyone had better damn well know it."

"That I assumed, but _what?_"

Kurama screeched to a halt outside a rather large castle. "Mmm...there's a particularly nice jewel in there. I think it might be a ruby. About yea big," he added, holding his hands about half a foot apart. "Carved in the shape of a dragon. Useful for fire mmmph!" Meanwhile, Hiei had grabbed hold of one of Kurama's more dangly locks of hair and used it to drag the taller boy down for snogs.

"Let me guess. Was that a hint to shut up and go get it?" Kurama asked breathlessly.

"..." Hiei raised one eyebrow.

"Actually, I think I'll keep talking," Kurama said cheerily. "I mean, you never know what will – ack! Hey, stop that! No making me bleed before a raid!"

"Stop being conspicuous," Hiei began, "and I'll stop biting you."

Kurama gave this some thought. "You're distracting me," he said plaintively.

"Shiny thing. Now," Hiei ordered.

"Hmm. All right. Where's the nearest guard?"

"Where's the nearest _what?"_

"I've got to get in somehow," Kurama said, looking innocent.

"By waltzing in the front door?" Hiei demanded.

"...well, I do want people to know I'm here, so I'm being a little showier than I would if someone were hunting me very closely."

"Someone _is_ hunting you closely," Hiei objected as they started around the building towards the gate.

"Yes, well, this is a different kind of hunting," Kurama said. "I want them to come get me. Oh, look, guards." The redhead rummaged through his hair, took out a seed, and popped it into his mouth. "See you inside."

Hiei's instincts warred briefly with his interests, which finally led him to go stand on top of the wall – _why the devil is that stupid fox being so damn showy?_ – and stare as Kurama walked up to the guards.

It didn't help his instincts any that the guards started being quite fascinated in having a very pretty demon sort of thing walk up to them inexplicably. It _reaaaalllly_ didn't help when one of them kissed Kurama to see how he'd react. Closely followed by two others.

It _did_ help when the first guard collapsed to the ground, choking up blood and intestines. He felt even better when the next two followed. Dropping his sword clean through the skull of the fourth and final one managed to make both his instincts and his interests shut up for the time being.

"I don't share," Hiei snapped when Kurama blinked at his sword, then glanced up.

Kurama grinned. "I'm flattered." He then stuck two fingers into his mouth and traced a hole in the gate with saliva. Hiei jumped down to meet him as the redhead pushed the crumbled remains of that part of the gate aside and scrambled through.

"What was that?" Hiei asked the obvious.

Kurama stuck out his tongue impishly. "Acid."

"And you're not screaming in pain, spitting out blood, and dying like _them_ why?"

Kurama put his hands on his hips and glared. "How come _you_ don't incinerate yourself every time you breathe fire?"

"...point. Where's the shiny thing?"

Kurama raised one eyebrow. "You could look for me. They might've moved it in the past two hundred years."

Hiei looked unimpressed, then opened his third eye briefly. "There," he said, pointing to the walls on their immediate left.

"How many walls do I have to go through?" Kurama inquired.

"A lot."

Kurama looked back at the dead guards. "I give us less than five minutes before they raise the alarm. No more breaking walls."

"We are _not_ going through the front door over there."

"No, we're not." Kurama jumped up to the window that sat right next to them, fiddled with the catch for a bit, then flung it open. "Window," he added, stating the obvious.

"...smug bastard."

"Your point is...?" Kurama tossed his hair and grinned, then began running down the hallway.

Hiei waited for Kurama to reach the end of the hall, then caught up as he turned the corner. And promptly stood around waiting for the redhead to turn again. The fourth time he did this maneuver, Kurama screeched to a halt, remarked, "Smartass," and breathed on the lock. The door then swung open.

"You're not going to be able to close the door if you destroy the lock," Hiei pointed out as they tramped inside.

"Oh, that wore off a while ago," Kurama said cheerfully. "_That_ was a lock picking spell. Ooh, shiny," he added. "Get out of the room."

"What the hell?"

"_Get out of the room!"_

Hiei went, sulking slightly.

Seconds later, Kurama went flying from the room, kicking the door shut before he hit the ground. Hitting the wall hard, he winced slightly before sitting up. "Oh, that's going to bruise," he complained, examining one arm. "I don't think I triggered the alarm, but I'm leaving anyway. You coming?"

"What was that for?"

"Trap spell on this," Kurama twirled the jewel in one hand idly. "I didn't feel like breaking it."

"So you just took it?" Hiei threw his hands in the air. "Idiot! Why didn't you break it?"

"Do you have any idea where we are?" Kurama asked, changing the subject.

"Not in the least," Hiei retorted. "Why?"

"Ah. Never mind. Let's get going, shall we?"

"...riiight." Hiei looked suspiciously at Kurama all the way back to the window and out the gate. He didn't stop until they hit the forest. Of course, what followed the lack of suspicious look was "_What_ the hell is going _on_?"

"You'll see," Kurama said cheerily.

Hiei looked at him oddly yet again. "You're hiding something."

"Yes, I am," Kurama replied, his tone not changing a whit.

"You're going to get us killed!"

Kurama shrugged. "Well, I'm hoping that doesn't happen."

"How do you know I'll see what's going on?" Hiei demanded. He hadn't liked that answer at all. Especially since he didn't think Kurama was going to be the one delivering the news.

Kurama shrugged. "Well, I was trying to be cataclysmic. You want the shiny thing?"

Hiei glared. "You're. Not. Helping. And why aren't we _leaving_? I do believe they just figured out someone broke in," he added as a good deal of yelling erupted from the castle. "No idea what they speak, but they don't sound happy."

"We're not leaving because we want Ramandai to come get us, right?" Kurama asked, sounding slightly deranged.

"And he's just going to start ransacking the woods because he _knows_ we'll be out by some random castle _how?"_

Kurama looked innocent. "Well, it _is_ his castle."

There was a long silence.

"_How stupid can you fucking get?!"_

Kurama maintained the innocent look.

"The idea was _not_ to go up and _feed_ yourself to one of the nastiest demons in the Makai! The idea was to _draw him out!_ You're _not _supposedtobe_ suicidal!"_Hiei glared at his still-bloody sword as though it held all the secrets of the universe.

"Well, we do usually just go up to our enemies and say 'Come get me'," Kurama pointed out.

"_That's_ because Yusuke's an _idiot!"_Hiei made a frustrated snarling noise. "I didn't think it was _catching!"_

"He uses humans to do his work. How strong can he be?" Kurama asked irritably. "I don't know if he's home, so I'm just going to camp out here until he shows."

"Wait, so you know where he lives and _nothing else?_" Hiei looked vaguely appalled. "You have no idea how strong he is?"

Kurama tilted his head from side to side. "Erm. Not really. This is different from usual?"

"_Yes!"_

"What, you're worried about me now?"

"You're fucking insane," Hiei said wonderingly. "You're absolutely _insane!"_

"I'm aware." Kurama grinned at Hiei.

Hiei blinked. Kurama _wasn't_ looking at him, though. He was looking...over...his...shoulder...?

This, he decided, was prime time to _run_. He promptly blurred and vanished from sight.

This proved that for today, Hiei was the smart one.

Kurama blinked up at a six-foot-tall humanoid demon with long, pale hair, large dark eyes, and hands with eight claws. "You'd be Ramandai?"

Ramandai looked amused. "Yes."

"Aaaand you want me why?" Kurama folded his arms and looked unimpressed. "You're not a vigilante. You wouldn't try and kill me if you were. I don't think you care about me going with the option to save my life and maybe redeem myself, either. I want a good reason and I want it. Right. Now."

"You have something I want," Ramandai said with a vague, gentle smile.

"What, this?" Kurama held up the gem. "Pull the other one, it's got bells on."

"Well, sort of like that," Ramandai smiled even more widely. "Why do you think I have it?"

Kurama shrugged. "You like fire?"

"Again, sort of like that." Ramandai's pupils were oddly dilated. "I have it as a lure."

"Not for me," Kurama said.

"Not for you," Ramandai confirmed.

Kurama went very, very still. _Oh Inari please tell me Hiei figured it out way before I did oh please I have to run!_ He raked one hand through his hair and stared at the small red seeds in his palm.

"You're moving very slowly for a rose whip," Ramandai pointed out.

"I am," Kurama replied. Shock seemed to have made him even more stupid.

"You're not acting very much like a youko, you know," Ramandai said.

"I know," Kurama said. It was almost a whisper.

Ramandai reached over, causing Kurama to jump back and fling his handful awkwardly at the other demon.

"Fireflower," Ramandai said as the redness exploded. "How...cute."

_Why can't I move?_

"It's not shock," Ramandai said gently. "It's me."

Kurama's eyes widened. _Oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Need a spell, need a spell, need a spell..._

Ramandai gently lifted the ruby dragon out of Kurama's numb fingers. "I have much better bait now, don't you think? Something even prettier..."

_Ka ign phlegis plutonis shemuh..._

Nothing happened.

_Ka ign phlegis plutonis shemuh...please, please, please work...ka ign phlegis plutonis shemuh..._

"Your escape spell won't work," Ramandai said idly. "I'd heard you had a special one, one that overcame all magic. It nullified them by burning away the connection between you and the caster. But nothing to do with fire will ever touch me. Water won't do it either, I'm far too well warded."

Kurama swallowed hard. ..._I'm going to die._

_Inari help me, I'll die if he...if he...if I..._

_Why...can't I finish...?_

Hiei stared from the overhanging tree for a long minute as Kurama crumpled to the ground.

"An excellent lure," Ramandai said softly. "I will keep denying him things as time passes, for his sins. Movement. Speech. Spells. Thought. Consciousness. Breath. Blood." He smiled up at the tree. "I already got you."

_I can't...move...how long have I not been able to move?_

Hiei stared at Ramandai. "Fuck. You."

Ramandai grinned. "Exactly."

_...oh, that was a bad choice of words,_ Hiei decided as everything got very dark all of a sudden.

He didn't feel it when he hit the ground.

* * *

Hah. Be afraid, for THE PLOT HAS COME AGAIN! Dun dun dun.

**KuramasKitsuneGirl:** Less than a week, and I won't have to worry about classes for a while...less than a week...

**Henrika:** Ah, theft. How I love thee for plot-renewal. (psst, when the fight scene occurs, it'll be big. ::nod-nod::)

**Na-kun:** No, you aren't...really...and I'm glad that people like Yoshiko.

**Kerei Kitsune:** And he just keeps getting angrier. Mwahah.

**Sailor Comet:** You have a point on the fifteen minutes thing. But he got pissier anyway, so...::shruglike::

* * *

**good show on the reviewing...keep it up?**


	12. The Taste Of Filth

**(disclaimer)** so not ours. really.

* * *

**::the taste of filth::**

"Nnn," Hiei muttered, blinking and struggling to sit up. "Sword," he muttered, feeling for said object. "Where..."

"We appear to be in a dungeon," said a muffled voice. "There are no less than three demons undressing you with their eyes, there are amazing amounts of seals between us and freedom, we've been stripped of weapons, my magic doesn't work, I couldn't grow a thing outside of this cage even if I had anything _to_ grow, and my shiny thing is gone."

The gnome that lived in Hiei's brain and threw the adrenaline switches went into Oh Fuck We're Screwed mode. "I'm _where?_ What the _hell?_ Urameshi, this is officially the – "

As you can tell, Hiei had an automatic response for these sorts of deals.

"I'm just going to hope that you mistook me for Yusuke because your eyes hadn't adjusted," Kurama said softly. "Because if you're delusional, we're in a hell of a lot more trouble than I'd hoped we are."

Hiei whipped around to behold a rather familiar-looking redhead curled up in the corner. "Ramandai was here a little while ago," Kurama continued, his voice still sounding oddly muted. "He said he was only leaving me alive just because he thought it would be more amusing this way. I'm getting to be a bit worried. Why are you glaring at me like that?"

"And you're waiting to make an escape attempt why?" Hiei demanded.

Kurama held up what was left of his hands gravely. "I'm very glad the wounds were cauterized. I'm not sure I have much skin left, though. This is just from going within a few inches of the barrier. I don't know if I can touch it."

"This is ridiculous. I'm leaving," Hiei complained, rising to his feet and looking distastefully at the muck around his feet. "No fucking prison in any world can hold me."

"This one seems to be doing a damn good job," Kurama noted drily. "Go on, give it a go."

Hiei stalked over and shoved his hand through the bars. "It feels like fire," he said wonderingly as the bars began to exude red sparks. "Jesus!" he screeched, yanking his hand back.

"What?" Kurama demanded.

"Something just licked my hand!" Hiei snarled.

"Yes, I did," agreed a small bat demon fluttering outside the cage. "You taste of _human_."

Hiei's free hand clenched as the other shot through the bars with a gout of flame. "That's all your fault, right there," he added over his shoulder at Kurama.

The redhead wrinkled his nose. "Lovely. You've just created a whole new air freshener. Vaporized bat."

"If I had my _sword,_ I wouldn't be exhausting my magic like this!" Hiei complained.

"You can use your magic," Kurama observed. "I can't. I also can't even get _close_ to the bars. Are you finding this as strange as I am?"

"Maybe you're just that weak in your human body," Hiei contributed.

Kurama sat up a little straighter. "It's aimed at _me, _idiot."

"What, you think you're that important?" Hiei asked skeptically.

"He seems to be exceedingly willing to let _you_ just walk out of here," Kurama pointed out. "But I thought he was after..."

"After me," Hiei finished shrewdly. He whirled and grabbed the bars again. "I could break these," he said wonderingly.

"But even if the bars aren't there, I can't get past it," Kurama remarked.

Hiei put his hands out through the bars and stared with all three eyes at it. "There's something about this barrier...I don't like it."

"Interesting reaction there," said another voice. "You don't like being told you smell of human, do you?"

Hiei jerked his hands back into the cage and glared. "If _you_ try and lick me, I'll torch you here and now," he snapped at Ramandai.

Meanwhile, Kurama quietly flopped over onto the ground and stopped moving. "I'd like to have a private conversation," Ramandai said.

"I can hear you!" a toothy demon with large ears sing-songed from across the room.

Ramandai snapped the fingers on one hand, then went back to talking to Hiei as the demon across the room burst into flame and began to expire quite noisily. "I have something of a proposition for you."

"Talk," Hiei snapped.

Ramandai laughed. "So forward. It's what makes me desire you so much."

Hiei stared at him. "You _what_?"

"I will give you your freedom if you give me yourself," Ramandai said simply. "For the rest of our lives."

"That sounds like a contradiction in terms, right there," Hiei pointed out.

"You will be free to do as you wish," Ramandai replied carelessly. "I'll just own your body. You see, you have a very interesting take on fire. You use it, but your heritage gives you other gifts. And yet...sometimes you won't even bother to do that. I have stripped you of your weapons for one reason, and that reason is to make you use what I want in you." He smiled. "I want fire. I want you. Make me an offer."

Hiei warily stuck one hand through the bars. "Here's what I think of your deal."

Ramandai took his one hand in his multi-clawed ones. "Yes?"

"I'd tell you to go fuck yourself, but I'm going to be incinerating you, so that won't be a possibility!" Hiei snarled, fire starting up around his hand and dark energy collecting around his third eye.

"Go ahead and burn me," Ramandai said coolly. "I'll quite enjoy it...Hiei."

Hiei almost involuntarily jumped back from the bars of the cage, his third eye still wide open and glowing. "You manipulate fire," Hiei said as the Jagan fed him information. "You sacrificed a hundred fire demons for your power." He grinned. "You're ambitious. I like that."

"Do you like it enough to come with me?" Ramandai asked, toying with the lock.

Hiei gave it some thought. "Meh, no."

"You don't even like touching me," Ramandai said mournfully.

"I'm not a people person," Hiei pointed out.

Ramandai's eyes darkened. The lock under his claws began melting and running onto the muddy ground. "But you'll let that trash in the corner touch you," he observed.

Hiei's eyes narrowed. "I'm just amazed that you want me instead of him," he retorted.

Ramandai slapped a seal onto where the lock had been. "He's grateful for the cauterizing? Well, there won't be any next time. That is, if I let him breathe again."

Hiei glanced over at Kurama. "He's not breathing?"

"I do my job well, don't you think?" Ramandai inquired. "He's surely unconscious by now and unlikely to wake up, given that human body. He won't have heard a thing from our conversation."

_How long does a human live without air?_ screamed the panicky gnome in Hiei's mind. Hiei's self-preservation instincts told the gnome to shove it and go back to playing with the adrenaline. "You're a fiend for privacy?"

"Only sometimes," Ramandai replied sweetly. "Sometimes I like being out in the open."

Hiei detected squicky subtext, having been well trained by a rather deprived youko. "Er."

"I think I shall simply keep him without air until he dies," Ramandai said thoughtfully, looking over at Kurama's lifeless body. "A demon in a human's body...I'm curious to see how long it will be before he asphyxiates."

Hiei really wasn't curious at all. "Or you could just declare this conversation over," he suggested.

"You want him alive, don't you." Ramandai examined him coolly. "Well, I'll humor you for now, I suppose." Razor smile. "Be well aware that I could just take you. I'm being...kind? Yes, I suppose kind would be the word. I'm being kind by letting you have a choice." He snapped his fingers idly, then sauntered back into the gloom.

Kurama woke up with a painful gasp of air followed by a near-convulsive coughing fit. "I can't...I can't...can't breathe..."

Completely oblivious, Hiei stared after Ramandai with a studiously blank expression. _I wish I had my sword. So help me, if that...that _thing _touches me again, I don't care how immune he is to it, I'm using _everything _I have to take him out. Now, how do I deal with these bars? He melted the lock with fire, and I seem to be more or less immune to the seals...they seem to be mostly directed at Kurama. I wonder if..._ Hiei's thoughts went into a highly technical direction from there.

Never let it be said that Hiei is at all unintelligent on matters of escapism.

While Hiei was busily calculating his escape, Kurama was busily hacking up a lung.

"Pretty..."

Whipping around with a pained wheeze, Kurama slashed at the hand trying to feel him up. "Touch me and I'll – " his breathless threat dissolved into a scream when his already-raw hand hit the barrier. He jerked his now-bleeding hand to his chest reflexively and scrambled away from the edge of the cage. "How can you reach in?" he demanded raspily. _God...my throat...my eyes...can't see straight..._ "Don't fucking _touch_ me!"

"I'll touch you all I want, pretty..." said the bearer of the hand. It happened to be a lanky-haired, ribby-winged demon that was free of a cage but had heavy collars and chains around its neck, wrists, and ankles. "He can keep me here but he can't keep me tamed. Besides," it hissed, "while you were unconscious, _he_ told us that any of us who got free could have you for ourselves...if _he_ didn't kill you first." It licked its lips. "And a reward for the one who can get you away from _that_ one."

Kurama stared blankly at the demon. "Can you get me out of here?"

"What, are those wards just too much for you?" the demon inquired.

Glaring, Kurama pointed out, "They're aimed specifically at me, to nullify everything I am known to do. While I'm stripped of my powers and bleeding to death, I really can't escape. But you can get in from the outside. How do you do that?"

"Anyone that can resist fire can go through," the demon said with a laugh. "We all tried, pretty, while you were out."

Kurama looked with disgust at his bleeding hand. "Without my seeds or any real magic other than a touch for botany, I can't make this body fire-resistant."

The demon smiled. "I'll bend the bars apart and pull you through if you want," it offered.

Kurama shot another look at his hand. "My whole body will end up like this."

"You want to hang around until Ramandai gets done with you, pretty?" The demon's voice lowered. "He's been looking for that fire demon for a long time. Ever since he joined up with you. I've been here a while. Ramandai _hates_ you, pretty...and he definitely wants you to know it," it added with a toothy smile. "I'd ruin my body to get free if _I_ were in your position. Then again, I'm not so pretty."

"I'll give you anything to get me out of here," Kurama said. "While I'm under these seals, I can't do a thing. I have to get out of this cage."

The demon laughed. "While you're in the cage, you're helpless. I like you better that way, pretty." It put its clawed hands on the bars and started bending them apart. "I suppose I'll have some fun trying to get out of this, if it's as bad as you say...but I think it'll be worth it. Don't you, pretty?"

Kurama scrambled backwards again, his non-bleeding hand plunged deep into the muck and searching. "If you come inside, you come within my abilities, limited though they are right now. Want to chance it?"

"I'll give it a go," the demon said cheerily, stepping through the bars and into the muck of the cage.

Kurama's eyes darkened as his fingers tightened over their find. "You're a fool." He grinned, wild and reckless.

"I am? Yeah, _yaaaargh!"_ The demon's denial turned into a squawk of pain as mossy vines shot up from the ground and plunged straight through its throat and chest. Kurama made a hazy flick with his bloody hand that sent the demon straight into the seals, where it promptly caught on fire with a shriek.

"Would you _stop_ making so much noise?" Hiei demanded, whipping around and stomping over. "Oh. Wait. That wasn't you."

Kurama blinked blearily at the other demon. "I think I'm gonna save Ramandai some trouble," he declared, and collapsed back into the mud.

Hiei shuffled a bit awkwardly for a minute, ransacked his brain on what to do in situations of random faint-of-heart-ness, then realized that such reactions were inappropriate as Kurama seemed to not only be bleeding heavily from his hands, but that he was choking on blood as well. This was much easier to deal with. He plopped down into the mud and poked at the redhead. "Wake up."

Kurama propped himself back up. "Can't you leave me alone?" he demanded, spitting blood into the gunk on the ground. "If I don't bleed to death, this gunk is going to poison me and I'll die of that. And if that doesn't work, Ramandai will come along and just keep me from breathing until I cark it. I'd rather just go quickly," Kurama said fiercely. "I gambled and I _lost_."

"No shit you did!" Hiei snapped. He took a deep breath, then added, "And it's your own damn fault we're in this. Stupid demons wanting to foff me."

Kurama's jaw tightened. "I. Don't. Share," he snarled.

Hiei looked mildly relieved. "That's not going to save us."

"He's been after you for a while," Kurama said. "At least since we met."

Hiei looked confused. "That was a long time ago. What kept him?"

Kurama shrugged. "I can't say for when I was younger, but maybe Yusuke scared him off if it was more recent."

Hiei looked completely disgusted. "We've been captured by a demon who's afraid of _him_? If that's true, my life is in complete disgrace. I blame you in full."

"You were the one that could have gotten away!" Kurama yelled. "You ran! You weren't as stupid as me. You knew when you might have been outmatched and you got out of the way!" He coughed, then continued, "Why didn't you get away?"

"I, er, you're too useful, so I wasn't pleased with leaving you there to get your sorry ass abducted," Hiei shot back. "He looked up at me, and then I woke up here," he added.

Kurama looked away. "You could get out, you know," he added, nodding at the prised-open bars. "The barrier isn't meant for you. You should go. At least go and kill that pyromaniac out there."

Hiei looked at the open space, then back at Kurama. The redhead was studiously ignoring Hiei and paying close attention to his hands. "No."

Kurama looked up at him. "What the _hell?_ Are you being mind-controlled? You have a chance to get out of here! Why aren't you taking it? What's wrong with you? You're being almost _altruistic_!" This last word was uttered with complete and utter awe.

Hiei stared for a long minute at Kurama. "You stupid fucking idiot," he said quietly. "You just don't get it, do you?"

"Er?" Kurama blinked.

Hiei sighed, then quietly leaned over and kissed Kurama. It wasn't one of those shut-up-before-I-hurt-you kisses either. He was good at _that_. This was completely new territory, because it went with being nice, but he gave it a go anyway.

"You taste like blood," Hiei said softly.

"Human or demon?" Kurama inquired.

"You fucking idiot," Hiei retorted, and kissed him again. _You don't get it, do you...?_

_I don't care...I don't care what you are..._ Stop, gasp for breath, wait for Kurama to stop coughing so spasmodically, start again. Lick the blood off the other's face. _All I care about is who you are..._ He closed his eyes. _You matter...and I don't know why..._

"Motherfucking human _scum_!" Aven Vincent slammed the man into the wall, dropped him to the ground, and jumped onto his chest. "You think we don't know you're involved? You think we don't know who's got his claws into you? You think we don't know what you did? You stupid fucking human, you meddled in _our_ affairs! You tell me now and I'll make all the pain go away. You fucking _tell_ me and we'll keep him from killing you! You tell me now or so help me God I'll kill you and find a necro to get the truth out of your corpse!"

The man's eyes widened, then closed. "Fine," he said, sounding defeated. "Even if he kills me, you'll have the truth, then..."

"That's better," Aven Vincent said with a smile, hauling the man to his feet. "Come along, and we'll have you talking properly. No sense in you dying from what I've inflicted in the middle of a good story."

"I won't live that long," the man blurted. "Don't use a necro on me," he pleaded as they staggered out the door. "Don't use a necro on me..."

"Yeah, sure. Just start talking," Aven Vincent replied with a sigh.

"Ramandai fronts himself as a vigilante just so he can own the castle," the man said quickly. "That's not why I killed that lady, though."

"So tell me," Aven Vincent said with a toothy smile. "What possessed you to murder that human woman?"

"Ramandai would have given me a reward," the human said. "I needed the cash, and he wanted to break the redhead."

"Break the redhead?" Aven Vincent repeated.

"He said that the redhead had something he wanted, and he'd keep destroying things around him until he cracked," the man babbled. "I was supposed to kill a man too, and a human boy, but the redhead...the redhead was fucking crazy! He said he'd be a demon, but I didn't recognize him until he went fucking postal on me!" The man's voice was growing oddly faint. "You know what kind of demon Ramandai is?"

"I don't get those kinds of files," Aven Vincent said impatiently. "Keep talking, human. Gah!" he screeched, dropping the man quickly as the human's skin heated up to well beyond its normal temperature. He stared in no small amount of shock as the human burned to ashes, then turned and fled to Koenma's office.

"Koenma-sama!" he bellowed, shoving past the oni at the door and skidding into the room. "Koenma-sama! I got something! The human fucking _vaporized!_"

Botan, Koenma, Yusuke, George, and Kuwabara all turned to look at him. "You're a little late," Koenma said. "Kurama and Hiei stole the Ruby of Coals from Ramandai himself, but apparently he wasn't pleased with this. As far as Kuwabara's sixth sense can ascertain, they are back inside the castle and have not emerged for quite some time. A search of the of the castle has shown that they are not there. There must be a hidden level either above or below, somewhere where Ramandai could cover up all traces of their existence."

"It's all my fault," Botan moaned. "I didn't keep a close enough eye on them," she added. "I knew how fast they were, and I didn't take it into account. I'm such an idiot..."

Aven Vincent shuffled awkwardly for a moment and examined the pool of...icky things...that was forming from the stuff dripping off his clothes. "I don't think it would have helped. Ramandai wanted to destroy Kurama, because he had something that Ramandai wanted. And then the human went up in flame."

"In flame?" Koenma stared at him oddly. "Ramandai is no fire demon. His abilities mostly run to a sort of mind control. He can inspire great confidence from his followers, and do a bit of a cheap imitation of suffocating someone or knocking them unconscious with the Force."

"The Force is _real?_" Yusuke asked in hushed admiration.

"Yes, now do shut up," Koenma said impatiently. "Aven Vincent, Ramandai couldn't light a candle even _with_ matches, considering the hands he's got. At least, not when we catalogued him. He might pull off a Molotov cocktail one of these days."

"He's not?" Aven Vincent stared. "The incineration of that human felt like a fire demon's magic..."

"Something Kurama has that he wants," Yusuke whispered. "A fire demon."

"He's been after Hiei," Botan realized.

Kuwabara blinked. "Since when has Kurama owned Hiei?"

Yusuke patted Kuwabara on the back. "Well, I don't think there was ever a contract of ownership, but Hiei has certainly been Kurama's bitch for a very long time. Oops," he added as Kuwabara's eyes squicked out again. "Damn. I think I just sent him to a very dark mental place by accident."

"You just sent us _all_ to a very dark mental place!" Botan wailed.

"Erm. Sorry?"

Aven Vincent shuffled some more. "I'm not in a dark mental place, so I'm going to keep asking questions. So, uh, is this demon making Hiei do his work for him or something?"

"Did the human incineration feel like pure fire demon magic?" Koenma asked.

"Yes," Aven Vincent replied, after a bit of thought. "Sir," he added.

"Then it's not Hiei," Koenma replied. "Ramandai is just sending a message."

"Hiei doesn't do anyone's work for anyone," Yusuke put out. "Except, you know, _our_ work. But that's different."

Everyone paused and tried to mull this over.

"Urameshi, if the price was right, Hiei would do just about anything," Kuwabara argued.

"No, that's definitely more Kurama's line of work," Yusuke shot back. "Hiei has this twisted sense of honor. Kurama just has this habit of being nice that covers up a complete lack of scruples."

"You haven't forgiven him for dropping you on your head, have you?" Botan asked suspiciously.

"Me? What? Of course I have!" Yusuke said with a broad grin. "What makes you think otherwise?"

"He looks too stupid to hold grudges," Aven Vincent observed.

Yusuke blinked at him. "Who, me? Probably!"

It was now Aven Vincent's turn to look thoroughly confused. "Sir?" he began.

"Yes?" Koenma replied.

"I, uh, I know I spend all my time in those dungeons threatening people, but it doesn't mean I'm fond of being covered in human blood and that filth," Aven Vincent began delicately.

"Go," Koenma said, noting where the conversation was going. "Go take a shower. Botan, go pick up what's left of that miserable human. Yusuke, Kuwabara, you two go back to Ramandai's castle. There are no holds barred now. Break that thing wide open, raze it to the ground, do _anything_ to get those two back! I'm the one who pulled them out of their former lives and I'm the one who put them into this danger, and I will _not_ let some pathetic little upstart pretending to be a vigilante kidnap, kill, and do unspeakable things to _my_ detective team!" Koenma made a switch into his older form, slammed his fist onto the desk, and then popped back into baby form.

Everyone stared at him.

"What?" Koenma demanded. "It's more impressive when I'm bigger."

"Yes, sir," Aven Vincent said. He then scuttled from the room before he reacted in an inappropriate manner to his overlord.

Koenma looked after his interrogator, then glared at Yusuke and Kuwabara. "Step on it, boys."

"Hey, you sure you're the one who put them in this danger?" Yusuke inquired.

"Yusuke. Go."

"Seriously, don't blame yourself for it!"

"Yusuke! Get a move on!"

"I mean, it sounds like this guy's been hot for – "

"Yusuke! Do _not_ finish that sentence, but instead go back to Ramandai's castle and go get them!" Koenma yelled.

"Hiei's not going to like being rescued by us," Kuwabara said thoughtfully. An evil smile spread across his face. "Let's go, Urameshi. I'm going to savor this."

Do you see that, ladies and gentlemen? That is a flying pig. It goes well with Kuwabara being the clear winner in this situation.

* * *

**MoshuiMing:** Might wanna mind the middle of the chapter then...but the rest is just flat-out random gore. Nar! :grin:

**Pat:** Heh, thanks.

**Kerei Kitsune:** Yeah, he just keeps getting angrier from here on in, methinks.

**Dane Soar:** Aww, thanks. :blushgrin:

**KuramasKitsuneGirl:** Now how did that happen? ;)

**Kurama's #1 Fan:** meep! I work! I work, I promise! (I'm trying to crank out the whole end before I go back to school for winter term)

**Kuranga108:** So many people with k names...I love demony!Kurama, and him being constantly nicer than the average human makes my logical brain go squick.

**Kage Kitsune27:** Sorry about the confusion. ;;

**Liviania:** Ain't it a change? Gotta say I'm having fun with it though. Ramandai is such a pyro.

**Henrika:** Ahh, the joys of having a fire-obsessed baddie. Speaking of fire...:goes to poke the wood stove:

**please emulate these stellar examples of reviews.**


	13. The Sight Of Worry

We still don't own Yu Yu Hakusho.

* * *

**::the sight of worry::**

"So where's this castle we're supposed to be razing?" Yusuke asked.

Kuwabara stared at the forest for a long minute. "That way."

"So, just how are we supposed to raze a castle?" Yusuke asked the inevitable question.

"I figure I use my super aura sword of doomation, and you do your thing, and we kill a lot of demons, and hopefully that'll be it," Kuwabara said confidently.

"Kuwabara..." Yusuke trailed off and looked uneasy.

"What?"

"Doesn't it make you worried?" Yusuke blurted. "There's something out there, something strong enough to hurt, capture, maybe even kill not only Kurama, but Hiei too. At the same time."

"Oh, come on, Urameshi. We all know you're the super-strong one among us," Kuwabara said grudgingly. "Even the midget knows you've got something on him. I'm not saying that this is going to turn out to be easy, but, well, you've beaten them both."

"Correction," Yusuke said. "I've beaten _Hiei._ Once. Out of sheer luck. I was strong enough for my reigun to hurt him, though, so that must count. I've never been up against Kurama. He just acts like I did. I mean, we've all smacked each other around a bit, occasionally had to fight each other, et cetera, but the only one I've ever really and truly _beaten_ was Hiei. And that was a _long_ time ago. And he wasn't really using a sword, any weird fire things, or...anything."

"Yeah, well, we'll be fine anyway," Kuwabara told him.

Yusuke shook his head. "I know I've been dismissing a lot of this other stuff, but something's wrong here, you know?"

Kuwabara shifted a bit. "Well, I know something's wrong. There's something out there that's nasty enough to do God knows what to Kurama and Hiei, and we're going to go walk up to it like nice little sheep and attack it."

"But how is it that strong?" Yusuke demanded. "It doesn't feel right. Koenma didn't act like it was that strong. No one is acting like it was that strong. Well, maybe the hysterical guy with the green tongue. He was freaking out. But Botan and Koenma didn't seem to think he was that much of a threat."

"Koenma flipped out like I've never seen before," Kuwabara said.

"But he called Ramandai a 'pathetic little upstart'," Yusuke argued. "He's always told us what to expect, and I don't think he's expecting Ramandai to be that bad. I think he just thinks that Kurama and Hiei screwed up really badly somehow."

"Maybe they did," Kuwabara said doubtfully.

"...you don't think they did, did you?"

"No," Kuwabara said regretfully. "Pity. It would've been so much more fun to have just walked in without a fight and rescued them."

"I want to find out where they went," Yusuke said suddenly. "Let's follow the way they went. That'll show us what not to do!"

Kuwabara looked briefly doubtful, then pointed out a direction. "That way." He hesitated for a second as the two changed direction, then started again. "Urameshi..."

"Yeah?"

"What is going _on_ with those two?"

Yusuke's eyes glowed. "It _all_ has to do with the way – "

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE WAY KURAMA STANDS!"

Somewhere, in a castle not too far away, one rather muddied redhead in particular thanked a very large amount of gods for this proclamation which seemingly came from on high.

Yusuke calmed down a touch. "Well, you must agree that it's certainly mellowing Hiei out."

Kuwabara shuddered. "Can we not talk about demon sex?"

"I don't think he's actually getting any," Yusuke said thoughtfully. "Which is actually quite odd, considering that Kurama – "

"GAH!"

"They're pretty much the best and most longstanding friends they each have. I mean, as for Hiei, Kurama might be the _only_ person he would even hint at calling a friend," Yusuke relented, actually giving what might be a relatively truthful answer.

"What about you?"

"Sparring partner and test dummy. I think he's shy," he added thoughtfully, just for the express purpose of watching Kuwabara go into mild shock.

"And Mukuro?"

"I've heard 'crazy robot lady' a good deal."

"And me – wait, that was a stupid question."

"You already know what he thinks of you. And vice versa." Yusuke shrugged. "I would say this is probably just some crazy demon logic."

"You're referring to Kurama as a demon a lot more lately," Kuwabara added.

Yusuke looked blank. "But since his mother died, he's been acting like one a lot more, too."

Kuwabara's eyes went wide. "Urameshi, don't kill me for this, but...what if they _weren't_ kidnapped? If Kurama's not acting so much like a human, and _everyone_ can tell that he's got a severe influence over Hiei's staying clean..."

Yusuke's eyes went equally wide. "The two most wanted demon criminals in the Makai loose again? Aw, crap. Your intuition had better not be backing you up on this."

"It's not," Kuwabara said with relief. "But it's a lot better than thinking that they're dead."

Yusuke was forced to agree.

Hiei stared uncomfortably at Kurama as he continued to hack up blood. "That really doesn't look good. How the hell did that happen when you were just holding your breath for a while?"

"I don't know," Kurama gasped. "Maybe I ruptured something. And I wasn't _holding_ my breath. I was sodding incapable of breathing while you and Ramandai exchanged pleasantries for _ten fucking minutes_!"

"That doesn't sound good either. How're you going to be useful if you're spouting blood all over the place?" Hiei asked.

Kurama smiled. "How about I just lounge around and look pretty?"

There were several comments made pertaining to this offer from surrounding cages. Hiei rolled his eyes. "You're fucking popular."

"No," Kurama replied. "Just whichever of them finishes me off is rewarded."

"He really wants me, doesn't he?" Hiei asked quietly.

"You think?"

Hiei burst out laughing, which prompted Kurama to stare at him oddly. "This is beautiful. _You're_ the youko, and everyone's ignoring you. This a new feeling?"

"Shut up," Kurama said mildly. "You're not concerned at all, are you?"

Hiei glared at him. "That's a trick question, isn't it?"

"You're the one who can take off whenever you feel like it!" Kurama said, sounding thoroughly annoyed. "Why _aren't_ you?"

Hiei got up. "Actually, I'm seriously considering getting my sword."

"Do you have the faintest idea as to where it is?" Kurama pointed out.

"Damn you. Aren't you supposed to be flighty and obsessed with small shiny things?"

"Aren't you supposed to be taking off?"

"Not without my sword, dammit! And don't try and cough up your lungs, it makes me nervous."

"Woo, I've found something that makes the great and terrible Hiei uneasy!" Kurama then went back to his convulsive coughing.

Hiei sighed and went back over to the muddy redhead. "Oh, come on, stop the spitting up blood thing. It's going to be fun enough getting out with you covered in more seals than I've ever seen in my life total. I _really_ don't need you dead once I'm out of here, because then my life becomes so much more boring."

"All those humans and no one to talk to?" Kurama teased.

"All those humans and no one to help me plot their horrible, screaming deaths," Hiei corrected.

"I don't help you plot their horrible screaming deaths. I listen while you plot them on your own, and then I distract you."

"That's it, I'm getting my sword, just for the express purpose of stabbing you," Hiei muttered.

"Now _that's_ not going to get you laid."

"I'm _so_ going to kill you," Hiei said, attempting to return to his normal colour from the dead-white he'd turned.

Kurama ducked Hiei's swat at his head. "You know, I'm just saying this stuff to get a reaction. You never used to do stuff like this."

"That's all your fault," Hiei complained, adding a magenta stripe to his radical new facial colouring.

"I know," Kurama said with a grin. "I try."

"Why are you doing this to me?" Hiei demanded, leaning forward. "Why?"

Kurama blinked. "You've started talking a lot more lately."

"_Why are you doing this to me?"_

"We're going to die soon. Or at least I am, if we don't get the hell out of here. Grant me some last entertainment," Kurama said dramatically.

"..." Hiei glowered at him. "Keep this up and I'm just going to read your mind and be done with it."

Kurama looked vaguely struck. "You know, that's an excellent idea."

"...?"

"Ah, you're not talking again," Kurama murmured. "I don't know how to tell you what you want to know."

"Do you even have the faintest idea what I want to know?" Hiei inquired.

Kurama smiled recklessly. "Look and see."

Hiei shrugged and looked.

"So that's it," Yusuke said. "There's the castle over there," he said, looking through the scorched remains of the trees. "They came here, and that's as far as you think they went deliberately. Crap."

Kuwabara was busily kicking through the charred rubble. "Urameshi. Something's wrong here."

"Again?" Yusuke wailed.

"Look at this," Kuwabara said with an expressive flail. "How often does Hiei do stuff like this?"

Yusuke thought it over. "He's a fire demon."

"Who uses a sword," Kuwabara retorted. "If this were the Kokuryuuha or some such thing, I think we'd know it. And there would be a lot less forest. This was just...fire. Hiei doesn't...really...do that."

"He's done a couple fire stunts lately," Yusuke pointed out.

"Yes, well, this is a little bigger than a 'fire stunt'," Kuwabara observed.

"Ramandai," Yusuke said, snapping his fingers. "That guy...Aven Vincent. He said the guy who killed Kurama's mother went up in flames. Ramandai isn't supposed to be a fire demon...but he's leaving a trail like he is one."

"Why does everyone we run across have this thing for Hiei? He's a short, bad-tempered, foul-mouthed idiot with a wicked ability with a sw – oh, God," Kuwabara trailed off as Yusuke dissolved into helpless and rather perverted laughter. "I'M SPEAKING ABOUT THE SHARP POINTY THING, DAMMIT!" This didn't help at all. "Ka-ta-na, Urameshi! Sharp! Pointy! Thing!"

"Everything you say can _so_ be taken the wrong way," Yusuke said gleefully.

"I'm not meaning it like that, though! I'm telling Keiko-chan!"

"Aaagh! Nonononono! Please no! She's gonna kill me!"

"And I'm telling her where you hid Icha Icha Paradise!"

"You do and I'm telling Yukina, who'll tell Hiei, who'll kill you!"

"Urameshi, that's a very empty threat," Kuwabara pointed out. "They're both demons."

"I, uh, Shizuru?"

"Eeeep!"

"This is all _really_ amusing, this discussion about Hiei's ability with a sword, but it's not getting us anywhere," said a purring voice from behind them.

"Gah!" Kuwabara yelped, whipping out his lightsaber – er, aura sword.

"I'm armed!" Yusuke added, pointing at the trees as he whirled around. "Ramandai?"

"Ah ah ah," said the purring voice, yet again from behind them. Both boys twirled again. "Back here," said the voice from its original direction.

"Stop moving and we'll turn – or, Urameshi will be stupid and turn around anyway," Kuwabara finished.

Aven Vincent waved one clawed hand at the pair. "Yo. I'm just playing around."

"What do you want?" Yusuke demanded fiercely. "We heard what you did to Kurama, you know."

Aven Vincent nodded. "Oh, I _liked_ him. He fought like no one I've ever met before or since. I had no idea how much was growing under that muck in that room. I kept his ears," he added. "He wouldn't beg, either. Begging is _so_ undignified. It was _very_ dignified...well, for a while. Oh, stop glaring, I'm here as your reinforcements. Well, reinforcement, singular."

"So Koenma _is_ worried," Kuwabara said thoughtfully, re-absorbing his aura.

Aven Vincent licked his lips. "No, _I'm_ worried. I just told you about Kurama. I know him. I've been in his mind, I've torn his flesh from his bones, I've forced him to babble his worst nightmares and his hopeless dreams to keep from saying what I want to know. I also had the pleasure of working over Hiei at a different point in time. Nothing normal could take these two out," he added with a respectful glance at Yusuke. "And nothing normal can _become_ a fire demon. I looked it up. The only way known to do that is to slaughter a hundred fire demons, drink the blood (which is quite a lot, mind you), and set yourself on fire. Well, it's a little more complicated, but that's the gist of it." Aven Vincent shrugged. "If those two are in trouble, I'll bet that they're in a _lot_ of trouble. Let me tell you, having been around for a while, we were always terrified that those two would band up together."

"Well, now they're working for you," Yusuke pointed out.

"Which is an excellent thing," Aven Vincent retorted. "I'd _much_ rather have them working together and for us than have them working separately and against us. Kurama keeps Hiei from flipping out and killing anyone who annoys him, and Hiei acts as Kurama's anti-conscience. He sees Hiei's general rules of engagement as pertains to life, and that keeps him relatively sane. Unlike this crazy," Aven Vincent said, shuffling through the ashes. "Anyway, I'm here to lend you two some assistance." He licked his lips again.

"Excellent," Yusuke said with a smile. "You got any idea how to storm a castle?"

"First, we go to the castle. Then we go kill everyone in it. Then we tear the place down. Though something tells me if we don't leave Ramandai for everyone's favourite youko, our lives are _so_ not worth it."

"Ah, that hurts," Kurama said with a wince.

"You're resisting. It hurts more," Hiei said automatically. "It's natural to hide your thoughts."

"So you're just ripping them out?" Kurama asked, starting back into a coughing fit.

"Or you could stop resisting," Hiei retorted. "I don't read minds like you think I do anyway."

"How did you – now _that_ was a stupid question in the making," Kurama muttered. He waited for the biting retort, realized one was not forthcoming, and looked up.

Hiei was staring at him with an expression that was about three parts shock, three parts fear, and one part confused elation. Kurama was doubly stunned – one, because Hiei had a facial expression that could be noted by the casual observer, and two, that fear was part of this expression. Fear was _never_ among the noted-by-casual-observer looks. Amusement and shock usually dominated this area.

"Okay, I give. What am I thinking?" Kurama asked.

"One, you're a possessive bastard," Hiei said lightly.

"We knew that part."

"Two, you...like...me?"

"And you have a serious inferiority complex there. Can we go to the non-obvious things that seem to be a serious issue?"

"Three..."

"Ow!" Kurama broke in.

"Yes, and stop fighting me," Hiei answered, then blinked. "Okay, maybe I should have waited for you to actually figure out what questions you were going to ask."

"Three?"

"Three...you're...why the _hell_ are you afraid of me? _You_ of all people!" Hiei stared at Kurama. "I'm hurting you now, but that's not...what you mean. And...and this continuous relationship thing. You still want to be friends, and...I..._ow!"_ Hiei's third eye snapped shut. Rubbing his forehead, he continued, "You have safeguards like I've never seen."

"It's probably these seals," Kurama said tiredly. "So here I am, stripped of all my abilities, barely able to move, let alone _breathe_, and now I'm utterly humiliated. Is this the bit where I die horribly?"

"Oh, stop angsting," Hiei said impatiently. "You don't have some crazy demon obsessed with _you._"

Kurama raised his eyebrows. "Want a list?"

"Forget I said anything. Why are you afraid of me? You're not afraid of me physically. What am I going to do to you?" Hiei demanded.

"I don't know," Kurama replied. "That's why I'm afraid. I can't predict what you'll do, as far as...all this goes."

"You think I'm any better?" Hiei demanded. "Look, I just saw my sword. I'm going to go get it. I'll be right back. Don't move, don't cough up anything vital, and don't touch the barrier."

"Are you being concerned?" Kurama asked as Hiei got up and headed for the bent-open areas.

"Hn. Watch this." Hiei paused before he reached the barrier and looked around at the other cages. "I know you'll be rewarded if you finish him off," he said loudly. "And I'm leaving the cage. Nevertheless...if any of you even _breathe _on him, realize that I am getting my weapon...and I'm sure that the one who harms _me_ dies horribly. Now _if_ you'll excuse me." With that, he deftly stepped through the bent bars and darted across the room to where his sword was abandoned in the muck.

The second Hiei broke through the barrier, Kurama sat up with a gasp. "Get your sword!" he screamed. "You just triggered a trap spell on your Jagan! I can feel it in the seals on me!"

"I what?" Hiei snatched his sword out of a pile of corpses. As his fingers brushed one body, he whirled back to the pile, feeling sick. A new feeling, to be sure, but...

"These are the fire demons he killed," Hiei breathed as the body he'd touched began dropping off bits of skin where his fingers had been. "He left them here...for me to see..."

Any further thoughts on the matter were cut off by Kurama throwing himself at the bars. "Hiei, _get out of here!"_ He fell back into coughing and dropped back to the ground in a splatter of blood. "Get out of here..."

_My body won't respond again,_ Hiei suddenly realized. _I'm reacting like this...because my body won't move. It's shock...?_

"It's me," said Ramandai softly, running his claws gently through Hiei's hair.

* * *

Yes. Yes, I am evil. Mwa ha ha?

**KuramasKitsuneGirl:** Hee, thankyou!

**MikaSamu:** More for you!

**Niana Kuonji:** Eee. Amusing review!

**kikira-san:** I'm glad you think so! I have OOC issues. ::blush::

**lilmatchgirl007:** Thanks!

**Liviania:** BURN, MY LAUNDRY, BURN!

**uma:** Raised with the slang, sorta. It was an attempt to Brit-i-cize me. Or something. ::shruglike:: I just kinda go with it. ::blush::

**Lachwen:** Here you go!

**Blue Moon Fox:** Thanks!

**Kerei Kitsune:** I figured it warranted at least SOME notice.

**Kooriya Yui:** Please don't get into trouble. Thanks though!

**Henrika:** And he only gets angrier. ::grin::

**Sailor Comet:** Erm, well, erm...I was looking for something really painful to me, and ended up clutching my hands and whimpering for a bit. So I figured I had something there.

**SweetMisery:** Doesn't he just, though? ::grin::

**Kuranga108:** Well, there they go...

* * *

**please review! thankyous!**


	14. The Sound Of Death

Ra! Here's the rest of the super-chapter-that-wasn't.

in case you really haven't figured it out, it's still not mine.

* * *

**::the sound of death::**

"Don't _fucking_ touch him!" Kurama snarled. "You do and I'll shred the skin from your bones! I wasn't hated and feared for longer than you've been alive for my abilities to sit around in a cage and make small talk!"

"Not like he cares, I'm sure," Ramandai replied sweetly. "I mean, look at him. He's got all the freedom in the world, and he's not moving..."

"You bloody _liar!"_

Hiei dropped his sword involuntarily as Kurama took another shot at the barrier and came back with more blood spraying from his hands and arms and a pained scream that only stopped because it broke. _Stop it_, he tried saying. _Stop it...stop screaming...I can't stand you screaming like that...did I drop my sword because I can't move? Oh hell... _"Let me talk," he said abruptly.

"You are talking," replied Ramandai.

"Not to him," Hiei shot back.

"Why do you _want_ to?" Ramandai demanded. "Why do you care about _him?_ Look at this," he ordered, shoving Hiei towards the pile of decaying corpses. "Do you want to know how I got them to linger around, decaying, just for you? Do you want to know the exact details of that rumoured ritual that made me one of you? Do you want to know how I sought to find you? Do you want to know how I tried to destroy that youko?"

"Let me talk," Hiei replied.

Ramandai backhanded him across the face. "Answer me."

To say that Hiei was completely outraged would be a shocking understatement. "Let me _talk_."_ For instance, to note that you obviously have no idea how many pieces you'd be in if I could move._

"_Answer me!"_

"I _don't_ want to know how they died. I _don't_ want to know about that ritual, because I'm more of a fire demon than you will ever be, you cheap imposter. I _don't_ care how hard you looked for me, and you can go ahead and tell me how you _tried_ to break Kurama, because you'll probably just piss him off more and give him a better chance of breaking out," Hiei said angrily. "And while we're at it, why don't you give me back the use of my body? You hit me. You will die."

"You..." Ramandai's face contorted with anger, just before he hit Hiei hard enough in the solar plexus to send him sprawling backwards into the pile of dead fire demons. "I search for you for over fifteen years, and _this_ is how you reward me?"

"I didn't ask you to search for me," Hiei said reasonably. The reasonable tone was, in and of itself, a warning signal.

"You did! Just by existing, you _did!"_

"You're_ crazy!"_ Kurama yelled from across the room. "They make houses for people like you!"

"Quoting the man who killed your mother, are you?" Ramandai asked with a smile. "You know, I told him to tell her that you'd ordered it. I wonder if he carried it out."

For his daily amazing feat, Kurama went even paler than his down-three-pints-of-blood shade. "I'm going to get out and I'm going to kill you," he whispered.

"But until then, you're staying in there, and we're staying out here," Ramandai retorted. "Grant me something before I _kill_ you," he snarled, his claw-hands fastening around Hiei's neck. "I'll take your body...and then I'll destroy it. I'll invade your mind and break it from the inside. You've captured my mind from the inside out for years on end, and now you deny it?" He smiled. "It will give me great pleasure to destroy the both of us together now. When you are destroyed, everything I have become will go with you. But until then...I suppose I should give you some of your physical facilities back," he mused. "You can't hurt me now."

Hiei tried to suck in air, but between Ramandai's hold on his throat and the demon's perch on his chest, he couldn't manage it. "Can't..._breathe_..."

Apparently the little gnome in his brain had decided that the key to survival was to lie about and state the obvious.

"That way, you won't be as mouthy as you have been lately," Ramandai snarled. "I like you _quiet._ Now hold still._"_ He grinned toothily at Hiei. "At least _I_ get you first, last, and forever...unless _that_ one took you first." Pause. "I gather from his screams that he has not. First, last, and forever until eternity..." Ramandai reiterated.

Hiei vaguely wondered where the gnome in his head that made itself useful during crises had gone. Vaguely wondered why Kurama was screaming like that. Vaguely wondered if that was blood beading on his face. Vaguely wondered what Ramandai was doing to him...

_...so this is why Kurama..._

Funny, how he couldn't even finish sentences when he was thinking.

"Oh no you don't," Ramandai hissed. "You don't get to die on me _just_ yet."

Hiei breathed.

_What...what the hell is he doing to me now...?_

_He's not...not..._

_This is _not_ happening._

About then, Hiei realized Ramandai was only letting him breathe freely so that he could scream. Possibly it had something to do with Ramandai's comment confirming the matter. It also might have been because Ramandai had decided that biting him in several rather sensitive areas to see if and how he would react was fun.

"You're mine," Ramandai said, and kissed him.

There was another shriek and splash of blood from the cage across the room when Ramandai bit his mouth.

_This can't be happening to me...I'm better than this...I've got to be..._

_I've got to be the best..._

Hiei wasn't sure whether he was screaming in frustration, rage, horror, or...fear? It didn't matter. As soon as Ramandai had gone from kissing him to licking his way down his neck...

No. _It matters._ _Not_ _fear_. Never _fear_.

Except he just couldn't stop.

* * *

Kurama clung to the bars, completely oblivious to the seals eating at flesh and muscle.

_Haven't felt like this since she died..._

_Never want to feel like this again..._

_I'll kill him..._

"I'll kill you," he breathed, choking on the words. "I'll _kill_ you..."

The second Hiei screamed, Kurama snapped. _Nothing in the world could make him scream like that..._

Every seal on Kurama shredded out of sheer anger, every plant in the room sprouted into horrific life, and a mismatched collection of leaves and small icky things began swirling around him. "They're not petals, but I can manipulate them all the same," he dragged out, his eyes fixed on the decaying pile of demons in the corner. "_I'll kill you!"_

First his cage shattered, sliced to pieces. Ramandai leapt away, whirling around in confused horror as the surrounding cages were ripped apart and the captives set loose, starting slowly outward from Kurama.

"I'm going to take my time," Kurama said softly, standing up fully for the first time since he'd been captured. He stretched briefly, his eyes fixed on Hiei. "I'm going to _savor_ this, Ramandai..."

Hiei by then had stopped yelling and was taking advantage of his newly regained but still somewhat limited ability to move. He also was keeping up a furious mental litany to accompany his scrabbling determinedly through the noxious pile for his sword. _Somewhere here, somewhere on, you bloody piece of metal! Where the _hell_ are you? I refuse to be _rescued, _dammit. I'm going to kill something! _ His fingers closed around metal that slit his skin open on contact. _Ah. Now for killing things. Many, many things. Kiiiiill thiiiiings..._

Apparently Hiei's sanity had been left somewhere at the bottom of the pile of deceased fire demons. This was probably the safest place for it.

"Kurama." Hiei shot to his feet and out of the pile of dead demons with a flourish that effectively hid his still-limited movement. "Save it for _him._ I'll take the rest. Oh, and you could've told me that all it took to get us out was me screaming. I'd have done it a _lot_ earlier. Undignified as it is, it's better than being drooled over in a muddy cage."

Kurama looked thoughtful. "We'll have to consider that the next time we get ourselves caught by some pathetic idiot with a fixation on you."

"If there is _ever_ a next time, I will kill you horribly," Hiei retorted.

Kurama deliberately caught Ramandai's eyes, then looked at Hiei and mouthed something that made Hiei look rather embarrassed and Ramandai's eyes turn murderous.

"I think I'm actually going to kill you horribly right now," Hiei said thoughtfully.

"You see?" Ramandai said triumphantly to Kurama. He stormed forwards, feet squishing in the muck underfoot and claw-hands flailing. "You see? All along – " He was neatly cut off by Kurama's whirlwind army of small flying objects all pelting themselves at him, followed by Kurama himself.

Hiei watched this tussle for a long moment, then whirled around to face the oncoming mass of demons. "What, you think I'm _that_ stupid?" he demanded of the universe, then grabbed the handle of his sword and started automatically counting cuts. _Twenty-nine mind-controlled demons, and one, twothreefour, five, six, seven, eight, nine..._

Ramandai stared at the blur of sliced-up demons rapturously as they all crumbled to the ground. "Beautiful," he said simply.

"How many cuts?" Kurama asked without looking up.

"Thirteen," Hiei replied. "Asshole over there won't let me move."

"You have fun?"

"Hn. You?"

"He's said 'tis but a flesh wound' about five times in the last minute. It's really starting to annoy me," Kurama reported. "So, Ramandai, tell me. How much do you hate me? Because, you know, it would _really_ suck for me to loathe your existence and have you not really give a damn about me."

"You have no way of comprehending how great my hatred is for you," Ramandai hissed. "You stole what is rightfully mine."

Kurama looked innocent. "Well, I _am_ a thief."

"Why couldn't I break you?" Ramandai demanded. "Why wouldn't you _break_?"

Kurama shot a sidelong glance at Hiei. "That's very odd."

"_What?"_

"That you can't answer that question, I mean," Kurama said reasonably. "If you're that obsessed...I'd think you'd understand."

"Oh, gods, will you shut up and start killing him?" Hiei demanded before things got awkward for him. "You keep this up and I'm going to take him out myself before I go insane from boredom."

"Hm," Kurama said thoughtfully. A whirl of motion and red hair later, Ramandai found himself impaled on one of the shattered cages behind him. "That any better? I think his spleen just died a horrible death."

"Much," said Hiei, realizing that Kurama really _wasn't_ talking to him. Hiei then stabbed a bit at a nearby dismembered leg in order to force back the shame building up behind his eyes. Luckily for his self-esteem and abandoned sanity, the party no longer seemed to be about people fighting over him, and had returned to Kurama wanting horribly bloody revenge.

Easing himself off of the metal bits, Ramandai wobbled back to his feet. "That was cute," he said. "But it's not going to kill me."

Kurama looked at him thoughtfully. "Oh, hey, are you trying to stop my breathing again? Because I have to tell you that it kind of tickles. That, and I think this is part of your small intestine that I've got here."

"Why isn't it working?" Ramandai demanded, clutching the holes through his torso. "_Why won't you die?"_

Kurama examined his nails. "Probably something to do with the fact that the angrier I get, the stronger I get. Don't you know _anything? _Oh, and are you having fun trying to overpower me? Ow!" he added as Ramandai slashed fire at him. "There's some fight. However..." Kurama fell silent for a moment, then smiled brilliantly. "Now that I've got those seals off me, I've got this lovely fireproofing spell that comes in handy from time to time. I really do wish you had let me use it while I was in that blasted cage. Ah...yes, it works," he commented, watching Ramandai's fire explode harmlessly a few inches in front of his face. "Are you finished being stupid yet?"

"Not quite," Ramandai said desperately.

Kurama's eyes narrowed, then whipped around. _ Then he's got to be doing something to Hiei...?_

Hiei looked positively murderous, but also was beginning to turn faintly blue.

"_I'm_ your opponent," Kurama snarled. "Come at _me._"

"I'm taking him with me," Ramandai continued desperately. "I have conducted extensive tests on both sides of his heritage. I must tell you that fire demons _especially_ seem to require oxygen, probably for the obvious reasons. Your pathetic little stabs at me won't destroy me before he dies."

Kurama looked up through his dark fringe of hair. "So much for you dying slowly," he breathed, and threw himself at Ramandai.

"The castle's cleared of everyone who could have told us where to go," Aven Vincent observed. "I told you to leave me someone," he said reproachfully to Yusuke.

"Hey, hey, I got someone," Kuwabara announced, dragging up a small bat demon. "Lookit."

Aven Vincent snatched the bat demon. "Tell me where Kurama and Hiei are before I pull your wings clean off and keep them for my collection!"

"Hiei killed my mate," the demon spat. "Go and kill them as well."

"_Where?"_

"Trap door's to your left," the demon retorted. "Happy hunting."

"Oh, we're not here for them," Yusuke said. "We're here for idiot demons like you."

Aven Vincent tossed the bat aside with a shrug, ignoring Yusuke's small tussle with the hapless demon. "Trap door...here!" He scrambled to haul the stone up. "God, it's heavy," he muttered.

"Here," Kuwabara offered, grabbing the edges of the stone and pulling. "Yarr!"

"Does that help you?" Aven Vincent inquired. "The 'yarr', I mean."

Kuwabara tossed the stone block aside and gestured at the nasty-smelling dark hole. "Who's going to go first?"

An ear-piercing scream split the air, followed by a couple more of its ilk. That same person began shouting hoarsely, but was silenced by a terrible rending noise and a pained gurgle.

"That better not have been either one of them," Yusuke said what they were all thinking.

"You're first," Aven Vincent announced, making to shove Kuwabara down the hole.

* * *

**(same time, different place)**

Ramandai struggled wildly as Kurama tore bodily into his chest and stomach.

Hiei blinked as blood sprayed him in the face. _This is strange. I didn't know Kurama could make little dancing lights._ He distantly registered Ramandai's screams, but found that all of his senses were starting to go the way of his vision...

Kurama glanced over at Hiei, then hooked his fingers into Ramandai's eyes and wrenched. "Take it _off_."

"Only if I die!" Ramandai screeched hoarsely, back arching with pain.

"You're dead already," Kurama said raggedly, shoving Ramandai down. "Your internal organs are laid bare and I have one hand practically _in_ your brain. I can destroy any one of them and kill you now."

Ramandai began to laugh, creating a disturbing motion in his bloodied torso. "He's mine...he's _mine_...he'll die with me! You won't kill me because you don't know if I've done it by my own power or with a spell that only I can take off."

Kurama stared at him blankly, though Ramandai was in no condition to appreciate the gaze. "You'll never know and we'll both die togeth_aaaaglk..._" His voice faded into a gurgle as Kurama decisively bit out his throat, free hand sliding to the demon's heart.

Hiei nearly choked as his lungs involuntarily drew breath. "That...can't have tasted good."

Kurama glanced up, blood streaking from his mouth. Spitting a rather gnarly-looking lump of tissue onto the ground, he asked softly, "So you can breathe?"

"Hn," Hiei confirmed. "Good show."

Kurama swayed to his feet, then ran one now-skeletal hand through his hair mechanically. "On a completely vanity-related note, I must look awful. In case you've never tried it, biting out throats is a nasty process."

"He's dead?" Hiei asked, dropping the mildly amused act.

Kurama nodded. "I ripped his air pipe out with my teeth and crushed his heart in my hands..." His eyes were triumphant and dazed at the same time. "He'll never touch either of us again..."

"A hundred fire demons," Hiei said softly. "How stupid this all was."

"Ramandai wasn't very smart," Kurama replied. "You know, I think I'm going to fall over or something equally undignified."

_I'm afraid of you, because you hold me up when I need you...and I'm afraid you'll let me fall when I need you most, because you won't know...I'm afraid of you, sometimes, just a little, _justnow

"You stopped resisting my Jagan," Hiei said softly, taking two steps forward.

"The seals came off," Kurama said dully. "They helped."

"..." Hiei wordlessly reached out and touched Kurama's thoroughly bloodied face. "If you fall down, I swear I'm going to laugh at you."

Kurama grabbed Hiei and held him tightly enough that each could feel the other's heart racing.

"You're hugging me back," Kurama observed.

"...hn."

"You haven't stabbed me in the ribs."

"..."

"The world just ended."

"Yes," Hiei agreed. "But we're still here."

"Yes...yes, we are," Kurama said.

Hiei glanced over at the pile of decaying demons. "I need to do something that doesn't involve getting my ribs cracked. Hold this," he added when Kurama started to let him go, and handed over his sword. He kept his other hand on Kurama's mutilated one.

"Some people would say you had a humanitarian streak," Kurama pointed out as Hiei lifted his free hand and gestured at the pile of demons.

"I'm not kind," Hiei replied. "I'm just who I am." The hundred demons caught fire and began to burn away. "If no one else is there and someone has to be..."

"I know," Kurama said quietly.

There was a brief moment where the only noise was Kurama's rattling breath and the fire crackling as it devoured its own kind.

This moment was promptly broken by Kuwabara. "Hiei! Kurama!"

"Weren't you supposed to be following us?" Hiei asked acidly as Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Aven Vincent all skidded into view. "You're late."

"Ramandai's dead," Kurama said softly. "We can go."

"Was it brutal?" Aven Vincent asked.

Kurama and Hiei both looked at him. "What do you think?" Hiei asked, pointing at Kurama's gore-covered countenance.

"...I see."

"You're supposed to be thinking," Kuwabara pointed out. "Come on, you two. We're getting out of here before the castle caves in on us."

"Walking," Kurama mused. "Hmm. I'm not sure I can pull that off."

"Don't you have a transport box?" Hiei demanded of Aven Vincent. "Use it."

Aven Vincent produced a small cube. "Yessir." He tossed the cube into the air and the castle vanished from around them, to be replaced with Koenma's office.

"Here they are, Koenma-sama!" Aven Vincent chirped with a salute. "Sorry about the lack of warning before using the transport box, but it's something of an emergency, so I thought you wouldn't mind."

"Oh my," Botan said from behind the desk.

"Ew," Koenma added usefully, hopping down behind the desk as well and out of sight.

Kurama sank to the ground wordlessly as blood splashed across the pristine floor. Hiei went with him and more or less held him up, gently turning Kurama's tattered hands over and looking for major damage in the first good light the pair had seen in several hours. This wasn't a difficult search, but as Hiei's vision still included lots of dancing lights getting in the way, it took a few seconds to register. "I think he could use some sort of healing," he observed. "This, I think, is the worst injury between the two of us."

Kurama's head was resting on Hiei's shoulder. "I've had worse."

"Your hands are...are...I'm seeing _all_ the bones!" Yusuke squeaked, hiding behind Kuwabara, who had ducked behind Aven Vincent. "Fix it!"

Kurama's eyes fluttered shut. "You're all so loud..."

Hiei blinked. The room didn't seem loud at all. It seemed like it was going away, actually...

"Hmm. They both just passed out and are bleeding all over the floor. Maybe we should do something," Aven Vincent reported.

He glanced around.

"Oh, for God's sake, are you all that afraid of what his hands look like?"

Botan poked her head over the desk. "_I_ was afraid of Hiei," she said staunchly.

Aven Vincent sighed. "Good for you. Help me get them to a room where they can recover, will you? And hey, you've got super healing powers, so why don't you fix them?"

"Only if you carry Hiei."

"Fine, fine," Aven Vincent grumbled, picking up the fire demon and grabbing his sword out of Kurama's hand. "It works out for the best, since you have your oar to help you transport the other one."

"I don't usually use it for...oh, fine." Botan nodded, swallowed, and began loading Kurama onto her oar. _I know it's probably not that bad, but I really hope this isn't a premonition of what's to come, carting him around on the oar like this._

Knock on wood.

* * *

Aaaand there you are. We'll see how many more chapters are after this. Less than three, I'd say. I rather deviated from my outline lately, but the plot hasn't changed. Much. Really.

**Kooriya Yui:** Oh good. Glad you're laughing.

**KuramasKitsuneGirl:** Well, they get some measure of revenge each. Really.

**Niana Kuonji:** Having Hiei owe you a favour could be _really_ useful. Hmm.

**Fire of the Angel:** Um...thank...you?

**Mika Samu:** Well, Hiei'll be cranky about not getting a piece of Ramandai, but Kurama would be downright homicidal. And last I checked, Kurama was the one prone to going off on deranged all-or-nothing missions. Eheh.

**Sailor Comet:** Eheh. Heh. Heh. ::flees::

**kikira-san:** I'm sorry! The timing just worked out badly! I swear!

**Kuranga108:** I would've thought it would be fairly...normal, the fear, being as Kurama's taking a hell of a risk by going after Hiei. One false move, and...well, Bad Things. Eheh. And Sharp Pointy Things too.

**Kerei Kitsune:** Thanks!

**Lachwen:** Sorry I took so long.

**Liviania:** ::pokes self-destructed pile of ashes:: Erm...that's not permanent, is it...?

**Dane Soar:** I associate cursing with pain, mostly because the more pain _I'm_ in, the more I swear. And the crankier I get. Et cetera. Eheh.

**Henrika:** Hiei gets kind of left out of the fun. We'll obviously hear more from him on this small matter. Meep.

**Bluespark:** Thanks! Sorry about the cliffhanger. I swear, it was all supposed to be one chapter, and then it kept going!

**SweetMisery:** What was?

**Nanashi:** The power of MARSHMALLOWY DOOM!

**MENace tenCHI: **I won't stop, I promise.

**acern:** Thanks!

* * *

**nya! please review some more. **


	15. The Touch Of Me

Sorry about the general...dead-ness. But it was a therapeutic dead.

still not mine. blah.

**:the touch of me:**

* * *

"Here," Botan said quietly, looking up as Aven Vincent entered with Hiei. "Just put him on the mat."

"Right," Aven Vincent said, obeying and backing away quickly. "Anything I can do?"

"Make sure they don't die until I get back," Botan said, going to the door.

"Hey, you're supposed to be keeping them alive!" Aven Vincent protested.

"I can close their wounds up, but they'd go septic with all that goo caked all over them. I need some of my stuff," Botan pointed out. "I'll be _right back._"

"But I...thingy," the interrogator said helplessly as Botan vanished from the room. He then looked reproachfully at the two unconscious demons lying on the mat covering the floor. "I'm only good at making people talk!"

Hiei muttered something, then sat up with one hand to his head. "So shut the fuck up," he said succinctly.

"Hello," said Aven Vincent, startled. "I'm here to keep you from dying until Botan gets back."

Hiei gave this some weighty consideration. "The gnome in my head is telling me I should laugh hysterically at this." He then flopped back into unconsciousness.

"He's gone mad with terror of me," Aven Vincent remarked. He then plopped down onto the mat with a martyred sigh. "Ye gods and little fishies."

"All right, you can go," Botan said from the door. She edged past Aven Vincent, dragging a basin of water over to Kurama. "Unless you want to stay and watch me."

"Piss off," Hiei said, lapsing back into consciousness.

"I was just going," Aven Vincent said, sounding affronted. He then stalked out of the room.

"You should probably stay awake," Botan told Hiei. "If you thrash around while you're taking your nap or whatever, I'll have to hurt you worse."

Hiei looked unconvinced that this was a real threat, but sat up irritably anyway. "What are you doing now?"

"Making sure he stays unconscious. I don't want my ass kicked if I hurt him badly enough," Botan said, a white glow floating from her fingers to hover in front of Kurama's face. "I don't know how he managed to just shrug this off. His arms are stripped almost to the bone. And now for the fun part," she muttered, retrieving a wet cloth from the basin of water and starting to work on Kurama's hands and arms. "I could have sworn he had sleeves."

"I could have sworn he had skin," Hiei pointed out, finally taking a long look at the damage Kurama had incurred. _And he did that...for...oh, what the hell am I thinking? He wasn't noticing _anything_ then except Ramandai._

"That too," Botan said with a sigh. "Ugh. This isn't going to be easy, what with him bleeding so badly. The mud seems to be holding the blood in, mostly. I don't suppose you'd help me?"

"You can't just magic that stuff away? You're no help," Hiei remarked.

"Oh do shut up," Botan complained. "Tell me what happened."

Hiei, rather than trying to point out the obviousness of this contradiction, merely ignored her.

"Or sulk. You could always do that." Botan tossed the first cloth aside and picked up another. "This is _horrible_. At least tell me what did this."

"Seals," Hiei said idly. The bite on his mouth was really starting to make talking painful.

"I noticed," Botan murmured, picking bits of shredded seal out of Kurama's fingers and setting them aside for future inspection. She worked her way through about five more cloths in silence before she finished Kurama's right arm and hand. "I want to apologise for my plan going horribly wrong," she finally ventured, picking up the next clean cloth and switching arms.

"Don't snivel." Hiei then returned to semi-conscious silence.

"Had...had Ramandai actually done the ritual to become a fire demon?" Botan asked to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Yes."

"You're sure?"

Hiei glared rather than respond.

"I'm only asking because these look like burns, except there's no cauterization at _all_," Botan said hurriedly. "I was wondering if he had magic with fire."

"..."

"You just got very uncommunicative very quickly," Botan observed. "Why?"

Hiei sighed. "Talking is painful and unnecessary."

Botan glanced up at him, then nodded in comprehension. "Ah. That bite seems to be infected. My apologies then."

"Would you stop apologising?" Hiei demanded irritably.

"Sorry."

"..."

Botan decided that it was yet again a good time to stop talking, and finished her work on Kurama's arms and hands in silence. "All right," she finally breathed, running her fingers over the exposed bones, skin and muscle reforming in her wake. "I think he'll be fine from there. I can check back for infection in a bit." She glanced over at Hiei, noting the swollen bite mark on his face and the masticated rips in his clothes. "Let me see those bites."

Hiei looked away. "No."

"Why not?" Botan asked crossly.

"No," Hiei reiterated, gingerly touching the bite on his mouth.

Botan eyed the placement of the bites and rips in his clothing. "I'm assuming you weren't welcoming being chewed on."

"I wasn't."

"So Ramandai really was after you?"

Hiei's eyes narrowed sharply as he whipped back around. "Shut. Up."

Botan, sensing dangerous territory, started in on Kurama's face instead. "Did Ramandai hate him?"

"Very much," Hiei answered. He half-smiled. "It was a familiar look."

"Is there a reason that bits of his lungs are ruptured?" Botan inquired, holding her hands a few inches above Kurama's chest, where they were surrounded by a vague white glow.

"If that were true, shouldn't he be dead?" Hiei inquired.

"You have little sacs in your lungs that make up the walls. Some of these were broken," Botan explained. Hiei thought this over and seemed to be filing it for future reference. "There. Fixed. I think I'll bring him around now."

Hiei looked away again hurriedly, rising to his feet and stalking away into one of the many attached suites.

"Kurama?" Botan asked.

"...nnh?"

"We brought you back," Botan informed him. "You'll be fine now."

"Am I...hurt? My hands..."

"I fixed the burns on your hands, arms, and face, as well as your lungs," Botan said gently. "Is there anything else you'd like me to take care of?"

Kurama slowly sat up, looking wonderingly at his hands. "I don't...how did they look?"

"Well, I could see that your bones were all in excellent condition, aside from some light scouring," Botan said frankly. "Anything else?"

Kurama blinked hazily, then blinked again with alarming clarity. "Where am I?"

"You're in one of the guest rooms near Koenma-sama's offices," Botan informed him. "Hiei was here, but he went into a sulk over his injuries and went off to lick his wounds in private."

Kurama's eyes darkened. "I'm not surprised."

Botan leaned forward. "Ramandai didn't...didn't...?"

"He tried," Kurama said with an attempt at lightness. "He failed."

"Are you two really...really...?"

"No," Kurama said indignantly. "Ramandai is _so_ not my type."

"No no no," Botan retorted impatiently. "You and _Hiei._"

Kurama looked rather put out. "I, er, don't know? I _really_ don't know now. I'm going to be lucky if he doesn't murder me the second he sees me for what I pulled."

"Anyway, what happened? Hiei wouldn't tell me," Botan asked softly.

"We went ahead," Kurama said. "You see, your plan would have worked, except that you didn't ask me if I wanted help. I didn't. I'm sorry."

"You should have said so!" Botan complained.

Kurama stared at her, slightly perplexed arrogance glinting in his eyes. "Since when have _I_ had to ask someone's permission to kill someone?"

"Since we – " Botan began.

Kurama interrupted, still with that prideful tilt to his head. "Botan, not to be rude, but it's _me._" He emphasized himself again. "I do what I want."

"Within reason," Botan pointed out. Kurama quietly took on an air of humoring her, indicating that she should change the subject. "All right, so where did you screw up?" As expected, this knocked the condescension off Kurama's face.

"I...look, I suppose I deserved that," Kurama said ruefully. "I'm not the fastest, but Yusuke wasn't expecting me to take off. Hiei and I have worked closely together before. He knows my methods; I think he was fairly sure I was going to go off on my own. I don't know why he followed me. Maybe he was covering for me. I don't know."

"So you two went haring off by yourselves. Then what?" Botan summarized.

Kurama stared at his hands. "I went to Ramandai's castle, killed his guards, stole his Ruby of Coals without taking off any of his trap spells, and put a couple holes in the wall. Then I went about fifty yards away into the woods and waited. Hiei got suspicious and left as soon as Ramandai came after me, but I...didn't know that Ramandai could control minds and bodies to that extent. And I also didn't count on it not being me he wanted," Kurama added. "I thought he hated me for being...I didn't know what he hated me for, but people do. Hate me, you know. I didn't think he'd care what Hiei did. But I was wrong again." Kurama traced an idle design on the mat next to him. "I think the only thing I did right was to leave you guys behind. And even that wasn't really under my control."

"You killed Ramandai, didn't you?" Botan replied. "That was all right."

Kurama wiped his mouth with the back of one hand. "He tasted awful."

"What?" Botan turned a confused look on the redhead.

"I bit his throat out," Kurama said softly. "I tore his heart from his chest and drove my fingers through his eyes. I disemboweled him and gored him, and he didn't care. He regretted nothing. He didn't beg." Kurama's eyes turned to the floor. "I suppose I'm not as good as I used to be at making people scream."

Botan looked rather disconcerted. "Well, um, is there anything else you want healed?"

"I want to be clean," Kurama said plaintively.

"There," Botan explained, pointing. "Go and be merry."

Kurama wobbled to his feet and headed for the door. "Right. Thank you. Tell Yusuke and Kuwabara that I send my sincere apologies." He then vanished through the door, leaving Botan kneeling on the floor, surrounded by mud, bloodstains, and medical paraphernalia.

She sighed, then stood and walked into the hall. "Can I get someone to clean off the mats in here?"

Meanwhile, Hiei was intensively cleaning his sword without paying an ounce of attention to it.He wasn't really in a deep state of thought or anything interesting like that. His brain had simply more or less shut down as a defense mechanism, as coherent thought was probably not a good idea in the wake of what had just happened.

He blinked as he unfolded his right hand from around the blade and looked at the palm of his hand blankly. _Hm. I seem to be bleeding. Ah. Yes. Holding the blade would do that._

Hiei promptly forgot all about cleaning off his sword and began pacing back and forth across the room. _Snap out of it, idiot. I've never reacted like this before. This has never happened before. People don't try and seduce me. People try and _kill_ me, mainly because not only am I really annoying, but I'm the Forbidden Child. Well. That's not really why people like to try and kill me, but it's why people don't like to try and...and...ARGH. I'm going to _kill_ Kurama. Kill. Dead. I wish I'd been the one to kill Ramandai. I _deserved_ to kill Ramandai. Except...GAH._

Hiei looked blankly at his sliced-up palm. _Anyone who touches me deserves to die._

_But if that's so...when did I start discerning between who can...?_

It was around this point that Hiei started punching the wall. Depressingly enough, the wall was stable enough to not buckle under a few good shots. As a matter of fact, Hiei managed to keep himself occupied for about five minutes without even denting the wall. He finally turned away from the wall angrily and went back to pacing. Unfortunately, this took him in front of the mirror situated near the archway into the bathroom attached to the room he had claimed.

Hiei flitted over to the mirror, stared for a long moment at the bite mark on his face, then plunged to the nearest sink to scrub at the bites on his body until they were bloody for a third time.

No, Hiei is _not_ reacting well.

In the next room over, Kurama was huddled under about a foot of water, cradling both hands and letting the water pound his mucky hair into submission, all the while exercising incredible breath control. Botan had worked a small miracle in regeneration, but Kurama was still trying to catch up on just what the last twenty-four hours had exactly entailed.

Sorry, no girly hair-tossing shower scene this time. Or even a shower. Maybe later, when Kurama's a little less traumatized.

_I was so weak..._ Kurama shook his head violently. _So pathetic! Gods, I couldn't even break those seals! Sixteen years of sloth in a human body. This is disgusting! I couldn't even...oh, gods, he'd have killed me if I had tried to help him, though. Hell, he's going to kill me anyway. At least I got my revenge. At the very least..._

Kurama surfaced, spat out bits of flesh, and submerged again miserably. _At least I killed him._

He then went back to the painstaking task of scrubbing Ramandai off his skin.

In the other room, Hiei was having a much harder time getting Ramandai off. He had hacked at the bites on his skin, tried to scratch the flesh off wherever Ramandai had licked, and was staring emptily at the as-yet-untouched bite on his mouth in the nearest convenient mirror.

_I've never had someone under my skin before,_ Hiei reflected. _I can't get him off. I don't know how. _His flesh crawled as his body made repairs to the sliced-up areas. _And I'm just going to have to live with it._

About the time that he made this internal declaration, someone hammered on the door. "Hiei!"

Hiei glared at the door full-force. _Yusuke. Damn._

"Hiei, are you in there?"

Hiei realized that this question was in all likelihood a formality before Yusuke broke down the door. "Yes. Now go away."

Yusuke paused for a minute. "What?" he demanded, sounding injured.

Hiei stared at the empty mirror frame. "Go away."

"What is it?" Yusuke asked. "Seriously, you're the only one I can talk to about what happened?"

"Go away," Hiei reiterated simply.

"Hiei – "

"_Leave me alone!"_ The door burst into flame and exploded outward. Hiei blinked and looked at his hands. _That wasn't intentional. I hate it when that happens._

"I'm going! I'm going! Jesus, someone's cranky." Yusuke scurried back into the hall. "Botaaaaan! Hiei just set the room on fire!"

Hiei gazed blankly at the fire for a long time, then whirled and fled back into the bathroom to hack at the bites yet again. Or maybe throw up. Or both.

Kurama stuck his head out of his door and looked around for what all the screaming and massive youki outbreaks were about. He blinked at the fire, rummaged in his hair, and pulled a face when he realized that he was still weaponless.

"Kurama!" Yusuke skidded back into the room. "Oh dear God what did I do? I only asked him what happened!"

"It's a point of shame," Kurama said after a pause. "I wouldn't press the issue with Hiei unless you want to have your head lopped off."

"Can you tell me what happened?" Yusuke asked in an undertone. "You're my friends. I want to know what that bastard did to you two, and then I'm going to find his body and – "

"I'll tell you once I've finished scrubbing his internal organs off my skin and brushed my teeth about fifteen more times," Kurama said blandly, and shut the door in Yusuke's face.

Yusuke stared at the door, then at the fire, then back at the door. "I'm going to go rip Ramandai a new one," he said conversationally to the room, and left.

As soon as he showed back up in Koenma's room, he was pounced upon by Botan, Koenma, and Kuwabara all at once.

"Did he really set the room on fire?"

"If he told you what happened, I need to record it!"

"Urameshi, you look like you're going to kill someone. Can I help?"

"Yes, he did. No, he didn't tell me. By all means come along," Yusuke ground out. "Hiei won't come out of his room and exploded the door on me when I tried to talk to him. Kurama told me to leave him alone until he finished showering internal organs and stuff off. And I'm going to go tear Ramandai's body to pieces. We have anyone who can resurrect the dead? I want to kill Ramandai."

"No, don't do that, it's a waste of good necromancy," Koenma said wearily. "Calm down and we'll talk, shall we?"

Kuwabara put Yusuke into a headlock with what could be termed gentleness. "We're listening."

"I wouldn't push either of them too hard to tell you what happened," Koenma said bluntly. "They screwed up and they know it. I really should punish them, but I think that might be overkill and _down, Yusuke!_ I said I wasn't going to punish them. I have no idea how Ramandai caught them that off-guard, or what he did to them, or how he kept them after he'd captured them, though."

"Sir?" Botan ventured, sliding small pieces of shredded paper forward onto the desk. "I think these might explain what happened to Kurama...at least a little. I picked these from his wounds."

Koenma took a small piece of metal rod from his desk and began sliding the papers around. "Generic ki depletion, ki depletion, null magic, depression, null magic, anti-cauterization?" Koenma blinked. "Limited motion, null magic, metal allergy, metal allergy, clouded mind, fence of fire, null magic, fence of fire..." Koenma left the rest of the pile alone. "Well."

"I don't even get to use some of those," Aven Vincent piped up from the back of the room. "Anti-cauterization sounds fun. Can I use that one from now on?" Everyone ignored him.

"Did you find any of these on Hiei?" Koenma asked Botan.

Botan shook her head. "He wouldn't let me look at any of his injuries, but they all looked like bite marks. They're infected, but he didn't have anything on the caliber of Kurama's injuries."

"Bite marks?" Kuwabara demanded.

"Bite marks," Botan confirmed. "They're...in, er, delicate places on his torso."

Everyone stopped and thought about this.

"That's really fucking sick," Kuwabara volunteered.

"I was wondering how to articulate that in a language you'd know," Aven Vincent said languidly.

Yusuke extricated himself from Kuwabara's headlock and smirked. "Now there's a whole new spin on Hiei."

"I thought Ramandai wanted his power," Koenma mused.

Botan shrugged. "He probably just wanted a signing bonus to go with the power."

"He practically wanted to _be_ Hiei. Anything that got him closer seemed good." Everyone whirled and stared at the redheaded demon that had appeared in the doorway. "Did you want to see me?"

"Yes," Koenma finally spluttered.

"I assume you want to know why I left," Kurama continued.

"Yes," Koenma repeated, this time with a touch of impatience.

Kurama stared directly at Koenma. "I wanted to."

Everyone waited. "Well?" Yusuke finally prompted. "What else?"

With a vague smile, Kurama continued, "Oh, sorry. About what I did?" At Koenma's nod, Kurama's smile died. "I allowed Hiei to think that we were just leaving the others behind, and I didn't explain what was going on until about two seconds before Ramandai caught us. His fault for following me. I didn't tell him to come with. The Ruby of Coals was returned to Ramandai, but if you'd like to prosecute me for the theft of said object, I won't mind. I didn't even bother to hide that I was stealing it. It was a most ungraceful thing. So if you'd like to revoke my parole or any such thing, I really won't care. I've done what I needed to do, and I have no regrets."

Koenma sighed. "You do seem to enjoy putting me in very difficult positions, Kurama."

"What were you expecting from me?" Kurama replied. He smiled briefly. "Really, you have to remember who I am from time to time. By the way, that wasn't what this was about."

Koenma drew a paper across his desk and fidgeted with his seal. "You say you have no regrets."

"None."

"I don't believe you."

Kurama smiled again, hollowly. "You should."

Koenma looked thoroughly exasperated. "And why is that? You're the most defeatist demon I've ever met in my life! Has it ever occurred to you that your life is not a good thing to use as a bartering piece to get what you want? You haven't got infinite ones! And let me tell you, the day I know you have no regrets is when you and Hiei land side by side in my maximum security prisons or maybe some level of hell, saying '_Damn_, was that fun!'. So don't think I'm firing you yet. Dismissed."

Everyone was looking a little stunned by then. "Wh-wha...?" Kurama finally managed.

Koenma gave him a long look. "How blind do you think I _am?"_

"Blind about what, sir?" Kurama replied delicately. "You mean I'm not in trouble?"

"Of course you're in trouble!" Koenma bounced up onto his desk and glared at Kurama. "You habitually do stupid things like this! It's in your blood, I'm sure! Demon impetuosity and a human disregard for life! It's an _awful_ combination!"

Kurama looked at Koenma. "I'm still unclear on whether or not you're going to punish me."

"Oh just get out of here before I change my mind and pitch you in prison," Koenma said, pointing at the door.

Kurama slipped over to the door and vanished out of it without another word.

"Are we sure he's telling the truth? I mean, I can..." Aven Vincent trailed off when Yusuke whirled around with a snarl and a reiki spike powerful enough that it could be felt in Milwaukee. "...er."

Koenma propped his head in his hands. "I'd send someone to go drag Hiei out here and ask him, mostly because he's not as given to being dramatic, but I know Kurama's listening and would manage to somehow thwart it. Go _away,_ you blasted demon!" He made a flapping gesture at the door with one glowing hand.

There was an affronted noise from outside the door. "I've never been exorcised so inelegantly before," Kurama announced, sounding wounded, and unwillingly stalked away.

"He really does think I'm that stupid, doesn't he?" Koenma asked the collected people. "No, don't answer that. I'll ask them what happened later, when they're DONE SULKING."

Disappointingly enough, Kurama didn't rise to the bait. He was instead picking his way through the burned-out rubble of Hiei's door. "Listen," he announced, and explained what had just transpired in Koenma's office.

Hiei absorbed this silently from wherever he was hidden, then finally contributed, "I note you haven't said anything about what precisely happened."

"No."

"Are you planning to?"

Kurama didn't stop to think about it. "No. I'm not. I have no control over what you do, but I prefer to keep my account of things to myself."

"Do," said Hiei, "because I don't plan to explain what happened, either."

"That sounds like a deal."

"Oh, of course. You're very well known for keeping your pacts with me," Hiei added, finally appearing in the door but not looking at Kurama.

Kurama cast his eyes to the ceiling. "You are _not_ still harping on that, are you?"

Hiei grinned maliciously at nothing in particular. "No. But every time I mention it, I can make you twitch." He brushed one hand against the puffed and oozing marks on his face and the evil expression died. "This one won't seal up."

"You should know why," Kurama said. "Your body is dealing with the infection before closing the skin. We're not like humans. We evolved better than that, mostly because of all the toxins and general filth floating around our world."

"The human world is pretty damn sordid," Hiei retorted.

Kurama eyed him. "You look like Ramandai's chew toy, you know."

Hiei turned the full minor-life-form-killing glare on Kurama at full power. "Interesting."

"I'm just pointing out that 'partially skinned' is not a good look for you," Kurama said innocently.

"You're one to talk."

After a rueful look at his arms, Kurama began meditatively tapping his fingers together. "You didn't touch that one on your face. Why? Vanity kicking in?"

"What is it with you and the way things look?" Hiei demanded.

Kurama batted his eyelashes with a faint smirk. "You three spend your time body-building, I spend my time being pretty?"

Hiei stared at him in complete disbelief, pus and a touch of blood streaking down one side of his face.

"While we're on the subject of looks, that bite mark looks really gnarly," Kurama commented.

"What, you're criticizing my war wounds now?" Hiei demanded.

Kurama looked at the ground studiously, then the walls, and following that just about anything else in the room that wasn't Hiei. "Some war wound," he said softly.

Hiei pressed the bite and let more liquid flow onto his face, eyelids lowering almost euphorically from the pain. "Nn."

"Look," Kurama began, then gestured a bit while lost for words. "I have to get out of here."

"Human world?" Hiei asked.

Kurama went to the door. "Do I live anywhere else?"

"No," Hiei said, "you don't." His eyes turned to the door, or to be more precise, the person beyond it. "You've got a visitor."

Kurama merely said, "I know," and walked out to join the wraith-Shiori in the corridor.

During the subsequent conversation, Kuwabara was occupied with hauling the rather icky corpse of Ramandai through several different dimensions, all for the purpose of jumping on said corpse's ribcage a bit out of general anger. It had occurred to him that there wasn't much left of Ramandai's ribcage to jump on, but this had never stopped such activities historically.

"That it?" Yusuke asked as Kuwabara approached, aura sword wrapped around the most stable-looking leg.

"Urg," Kuwabara said coherently, looking back at the trail of entrails and slime. "I hitched a ride with one of the girls who went to fetch the soul, but I didn't get a ride back."

"I'm not surprised," Yusuke said.

They both looked down at the body meditatively.

"He smells a bit off," Kuwabara reported.

"It's probably part mud, part intestines, and part...decay, I suppose," Yusuke said dubiously.

Again with the examination of the body.

"So Kurama did this?" Kuwabara broke the silence again.

Yusuke nodded. "Definitely a few screws loose in that brain. Probably a few more after all this happened."

"Aren't dead people supposed to look peaceful and harmless?" Kuwabara demanded.

"I suppose being butchered would change that somewhat," Yusuke said. "I didn't think that he would be so thoroughly...dead. I was expecting him to be sliced in half or something. This is ridiculously brutal."

"Maybe it was some super plant of doom," Kuwabara offered.

Yusuke nodded, though he was absolutely positive that the ravaged throat had bite marks on it, and not the friendly kind. "Mm."

The contemplative silence was shattered by Botan screaming from about two inches behind them, "What is that? Why is it here? That's disgusting! Get that out of here! Get! It! Away! It smells like...like...awful things! Take that back to wherever it came from RIGHT NOW!"

The acrimonious debate that ensued was one of the most spectacular on that dimensional plane in all history. And if Ramandai was stepped on more than a little bit during such a thing, no one really minded.

Well, all right, it meant new shoes for whoever did so.

At a certain point in time during that debate, Shiori began retracing her steps back to the ferry girl who had brought her, massive amounts of paperwork in hand. Kurama watched her go, then shook his head and turned for the way out.

"That's it, isn't it?" Hiei asked from behind him.

Kurama stopped and contemplated the wall. "Well...yes. Yes, I suppose so."

"What was that about? I thought she'd gone off already," Hiei informed him.

"She wanted to know why I lied earlier about my being able to see her after she dies. She also wanted to know who I was, I suppose. One thousand years of life history truncated into twenty minutes. Gave her best to her fiancé and all that. I told her not to get her hopes up about me being sent to the same place where she's going. I'm for prison or some other place where they shove me in, lose the key, and melt the lock." Something amusing seemed to strike Kurama, and he smiled vaguely. "Or something like that."

"When has melting the lock stopped you?" Hiei asked.

"Oxyacetylene is an excellent thing," Kurama replied, his smile widening.

"I thought so."

Kurama exhaled and started to walk again, then looked curiously at his newfound companion. "You're coming with me?"

Hiei shrugged. "It's the least likely place for someone to find me."

Kurama gave this some thought. It looked slightly painful. "If you say so. Do you have anything specific to do in mind?"

Hiei said bluntly, "No. I just don't want to be here right now and you're the first person I see leaving." Kurama stared at him somewhat blankly as Hiei continued, "What are you insinuating?"

"I'm insinuating that I myself have something specific to do in mind. I am going home, going to sleep, and not getting up for maybe three days. I'm not going to school for a good solid week, I'm not going to play human for the same amount of time, and I think I'm going to watch incredible amounts of television. The world can deal with it."

Hiei quietly marveled at the ability of Kurama to be deeply egocentric at the oddest of times. It probably went hand-in-hand with the using-life-as-bartering-piece mentality. "Nn."

Kurama ran one hand through his hair gingerly. "You still want to come with?" he asked, extending the same hand to Hiei.

Hiei's fingers twisted around his, the callus of a sword hand scraping on the callus from a whip handle. "If people are leaving you alone, they will be leaving me alone."

"Or maybe you just like my company," Kurama volunteered devilishly.

Hiei smiled, crooked and oozing fluid. "Maybe."

"I can fix this," Kurama said, stepping closer and gesturing with two fingers over the still-open wound on Hiei's face. "Would you prefer it?"

"Maybe," Hiei repeated, and when Kurama smiled like sin and sunshine he ignored the faint sharp pain from cheekbone to jaw and instead kissed Kurama roughly.

"Are you biting me?" Kurama asked breathlessly, licking his now-torn lower lip. Hiei didn't bother to answer and kissed him again, with fangs and hunger and some slight dizziness.

It was Kuwabara's unfortunate luck to walk into the hallway at that moment. He studied the situation for a few seconds, winced, and announced, "I did not need that image. I feel my brain burning." He then turned and staggered through the nearest door.

"He has a brain?" Hiei asked curiously.

Kurama laughed and they left in silence, fingers still twined together.

**:touch of you:**

* * *

...so, um, that's it. Done. It's been a hell of a ride. I love you all. I'll see you in Skeleton Dancer, which will NOT take place in the same universe as this. Ah, that cross-dimensional writing.

**lilmatchgirl:** Um. Sorry about the lack of soon.

**kikira-san:** If you think this one was gory, wait for SD. SD will be redefining gory.

**MikaSamu:** aw man, now I feel really bad for not updating.

**Liviania:** I'M ALIVE.

**Kooriya Yui:** I live to serve.

**RehdFawx:** Thank you:blush:

**Kerei Kitsune:** I, uh, wrote two SO FULL OF ANGST chapters that went nowhere near an ending, then deleted them and stared for a while at what was left. It was bad. But you were right!

**KuramasKitsuneGirl:** I'm sorry!

**boyxboyislove:** I KNOW. gah. He's the uberdisturbing one of the series. Thanks for a million reviews!

**Kuranga108**: I'm sorry! I'M SORRY!

**darksaphire:** I don't know. It just kind of slipped out during one chapter, then kept coming back.

**Niana Kuonji:** Ehehe. Heh.

**Princess Random:** You all hate me now, don't you. :grin:

**ForeverFornever:** Aheh. I swear, my writing muse has that seasonal affective disorder and refuses to work during the winter.

**anonymous:** I have done so. :elegant bow:

**Henrika: **I didn't get to put Yusuke and Kuwabara in as much as I would have liked in here. It made me sad, because they're fun to write.

**Dane Soar:** I dunno. It seems like something he might do if he got angry enough. Aven Vincent...eh, he tortures people for work, not so much for fun. He has down time.

**SunStar Kitsune:** Um...you're...welcome?

**Alyssa-Anime-Angel:** I'm sorry for the wait:flail:

**Cattibrie393:** Thanks:grin:

**baka-basher:** I revolutionized angst-humor. Ah, the moodswings.

**Capella Alpha Aurigae:** Thanks! Eeeheh. I invite you to use your imagination in any way you see fit here.

**Oya:** His moment of brainage. Hee.

* * *

**i luff you. please review. it makes the hole-punchers happy.**


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